A Story Re-Written
by Jess-The-Vampire
Summary: Gumball is trapped in the land of Ooo. How did he get there? And can Marceline ever help him find a way back home? ( Gumceline ) (Partially written by the fans) Make sure to leave reviews! I appreciate it.
1. The Story Begins

Hello folks! This is the author speaking! Welcome to my newest project! Some of you may or may not have read my other story, "The Future Of Our Kingdoms".

This one I plan on making even bigger and better than that one.

What do I want from you? Easy, tell me what you think, I want your opinions.

But I also want you all to help me write this story, in a review or send me a message with your ideas for scenarios in this gumceline story. What should I have, what should they do together? You tell me...

You'll be credited in the beginning of the chapter your ideas was used in. Thank you! And enjoy the story!

It was a peaceful night in the candy kingdom of Aaa, or at least, it was peaceful to most areas of Aaa. The candy kingdom, on the other hand, was lively and bright. You could probably see it from space if you tried, the candy citizens were cheering and having a blast, all celebrating the occasion. What was the occasion? Their prince was going to pick his bride tonight.

They were ruled by a prince known as Prince Bubba Gumball, or at least that was his official princely title. He was a sincere and genuine man , he always looked out for his people, they came first, before his own happiness. He was beloved by all, he was seen as a hero, someone perfect, any lady was willing to make themselves as appealing as possible to earn his hand. Maidens from everywhere had arrived, candy people were among them, of course. Music blared throughout the ballroom, couples danced among the floors. Everywhere was joyful, cheery, it was all sickly happy, like some fairytale ending.

But it wasn't happy, at least not for the prince.

On a nearby wall, far away from almost anyone, stood the prince. He was leaning against it, grimacing, his head hung low, producing only fake smiles when he thought people were looking. He didn't want to be seen tonight, nor did he want to be pondered with people or attacked with questions. He was wearing his fanciest clothes, he only attended tonight because he didn't want to disappoint his people, he hated feeling like a failure to people who relied on him. The only bright side to all of this was that his friends had promised to attend the party with him tonight, the vampire king, and fionna the human.

They weren't the most classy of friends, but they were the best friends he'd ever known. Marshall may be a king, but he wasn't the kingly type, always dressed as if he was at a rock concert, and always trying to find a way to push bubba's buttons. Fionna was the last human in existence, and she was his hero, she was loyal to him, and put herself at risk to keep him safe. She had a crush on him, bubba knew that quite well, once he'd tried to ask her for a date and he'd been rejected for doing so. Even though she was just a friend now, he still daydreamed about 'what ifs?'

He had wonderful people in his life, great wonderful friends. He hoped that tonight they'd make everything more tolerable, he'd been to plenty of parties before, this one didn't make much a difference to any other party. He didn't want to look for a bride, he wasn't interested in getting engaged to someone he barely knew. He almost wanted to run away, to leave everything behind and live his own life. But he wasn't selfish, he could never do such a thing, not to his people.

The prince looked at his watch, they were late, very late. He wasn't terribly upset, Marshall was normally fashionably late, and fionna could have easily gotten caught up in an adventure. But when minutes turned into hours the prince could no longer even mange a fake grin. He almost wanted to cry, but he couldn't, not here, not now. His sad expression caught the eye of one of his servants though, peppermint maid, his most trusted employee. She walked up to him, looking at him with concern, "Are you all right your highness?"

He crossed his arms, and he turned his head, trying to avoid the small woman's gaze. He huffed, before reluctantly saying "Fionna and Marshall didn't show up tonight...". Tears began to show, "They promised they'd be here to support me tonight, they promised they'd be here to keep me company...". The maid looked up at him, a frown upon her face, "Sire? Please...I'm sure they're just running late".

Gumball didn't feel any better, "No...they forgot...they abandoned me...again...". The maid tried to comfort him, but her efforts weren't helping, the prince felt miserable. He was being forced to marry someone he didn't know, he was forced to attend a party he didn't care about, and his friends were nowhere in sight. He had never felt such hatred, he needed to get away, needed to get away from the crowd, needed to be alone.

He wiped away his tears one last time and thought it best he find somewhere quiet. "I'm going to go for a walk peppermint..." He announced, "I'll be back later alright?". The maid looked him with concern, "Where sire? What about picking your bride?". He turned to her, "I'll be in the gardens..", he lied, "I'll pick someone soon enough..." And he escaped, making his way to his bedroom. It was pink, like him, but much darker, he changed into something a little more casual, jeans and his favorite pink jacket. He still kept the crown though, not wanting to lose it.

He didn't want peppermint maid to worry about him, but he couldn't be in the castle right now, maybe he could go to the treehouse and find fionna there. He wandered into the woods, hands in his pockets, moping, frustrated, confused. He was a mixture of feelings right now, and it was horrible, he had a terrible headache. The cool air touched his face, and he breathed in slowly, before more tears slid down his face.

"Why?..." He mumbled, "Why me...why is it always me...?". He was a third wheel and he knew it, charming Marshall, always ditching him and convincing fi to do the same. He was every lady's ideal man, suave, handsome, charming. He didn't even know why he hanged out with him sometimes, he made him feel bad, feel inferior. He didn't stand a chance against him, not that it mattered anyway, flame prince was the one fi liked now anyway.

He kicked a nearby rock, feeling rage. He didn't want to cry anymore, he took some more breaths and continued his walk, it was peaceful out here, relaxing. He looked up at the moonlight shown above him, admiring it, as well as the stars above. It felt nice out here, he silently wished he could escape out here more often, it was nice being out here. He took in the moment till he heard a laugh from somewhere nearby, he followed the sound, curious.

Peeking through the bushes, he took a look around. He knew that bunny hat anywhere, fionna was hanging out over by the river, flame prince by her side. They weren't doing anything remotely bad, just talking and laughing, but it made his heart sink to watch. He backed out before he was spotted and fell to his knees, great, nothing could make this any worse. Until he heard fionna's voice say, "I think I heard something fp...I'm gonna go check it out.."

Bubba immediately stood up and made a run for it, unfortunately not getting very far till fionna called out "Gumball?". He kept on going though, not in the mood to speak to her or anyone right now. Eventually he ran out of breath, he slowed down, realizing he was in an unfamiliar part of the forest. He immediately regretted his decision to run, he felt his stomach drop, a voice could be heard, coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

He barely had the courage to even say anything, but he silently called out, "Is anyone there? Hello?". He moved quickly, it was dark around these woods, he couldn't see a thing. He felt terrified, "Please, can you help me? I-I think I'm lost..." He felt something tap him and he jumped, "Hey! Wha- who are you?". The voice grew louder, and he realized it was a woman's voice, she called out to him.

 _"Stay, don't leave me, I need you..."_

It sounded almost desperate, as if she was begging him. Bubba managed to call out once again, "Wh-who are you? ", it was all he could manage. He was too scared, and it didn't make it any better when a dark smoke begun to surround him, covering his body, he tried to shake it off but it begun to blind him. he couldn't see anything, he fell to his knees, calling out for help, he needed fionna, he needed Marshall, he needed someone.

He screamed.

-

Laughing could be heard somewhere deep inside the woods, laughter that belonged to a girl. A girl who was having some great fun, her long dark hair was everywhere, her pale skin was easily identifiable against it. She was chasing two figures through the woods, one in the shape of a human boy, and an orange dog. They were running around, trying to hide form her as she playfully tried to find him. "BOOOYYYSSS! I"M COMING FOR YOU!" She snickered, "This was great fun, messing with these two souls...always gave her a great laugh...". Jake himself, was terrified, but finn knew she was just messing with them, like always, she was having fun.

The girl, was Marceline, a vampire. But she wasn't just any vampire, she was the vampire queen, she was the one in charge of them all. She was a powerful being, anyone in their right mind would never cross her. But Finn and Jake were some of the few that weren't in their right mind, and they didn't mind that at all. The two hid behind a tree, Jake, shrinking into a smaller figure. They kept quiet, hoping Marceline wouldn't be able to find them. But Marceline knew better than them, she had a great sense of smell, and hearing. No one could hide from her.

Turning invisible, she snuck around the tree the boys were hidden behind, and watched them. She leaned in close, and put on her most gnarliest monster face. She hissed, making the two adventurers scream like mad. She cackled, holding her stomach, after she stopped laughing she gave them a toothy grin. "You guys are fun to play with...", Jake wasn't amused, Finn chuckled, " You found us marce...". She shrugged, smug with herself, "Don't I always?"

"Heh, your too good at this game Marcy..." Finn said, "Maybe we should play again tomorrow...". The vampire queen raised an eyebrow, "You leaving?" she asked. "Yeah, sorry marce, we promised pb we'd help her find some junk later tonight after we hung out with you...", he shrugged, giving her a apologetic look. "Oh..." She was clearly disappointed, not willing to go home just yet, "Alright fine...just go ditch me and hang with bonnie..."

Finn took note of Marceline's disappointment, "Sorry marcy, we promised peebles...". She grumbled, "Yeah, but you also promised me we'd hang out tonight..." She hugged her arms, feeling disappointed, she lived alone, she had few real friends. Being a loner like herself wasn't pleasant, sometimes she needed someone to talk to, someone to keep her company. But vampires weren't naturally people that were seen as the friendly type. Therefore, she had few friends.

She hated feeling abandoned.

"Are you guys sure we cant _hang_ for a little bit longer?" She joked, trying to relax. "We could head to my place and have a jam session?". Finn bit his lip, but he couldn't break a promise to the princess, "Sorry marce...pb's waiting fro us, we'll hang out tomorrow okay? er, no pun intended...". She didn't make an effort to hide her disappointment, "Fine fine...you both just leave...I'm sure I can entertain myself for the rest of the night...". She shrugged, "I'll see you boobs soon...". Finn left, giving Marceline a smile and a wave, Jake, still a little frightened Marceline would pounce on him, hid in the boy's backpack as he left these parts of the woods.

Marceline sighed, so much for tonight. She might as well head home tonight, before the sun comes up. She floated along, making her way home, it was cold out tonight. Her hair was flying behind her and she desperately hoped it wouldn't end up caught in anything. The forest was eerie tonight, almost unnatural, and that was saying something from a girl who lived in a world that had talking candy and people made of fire.

She just had a bad feeling, that something was wrong out tonight.

And then it hit her, she sniffed the air, she smelt...something...something familiar. Her eyes grew wide when she recognized it, it was blood, someone was bleeding out here, was injured. But the blood smell was different, sniffing the air a little more she realized the smell was much sweeter, reminding her too much of the pink princess who ruled the candy kingdom.

"Bonnibel?" She called out, hesitantly. Not that she expected the princess to be out here, alone and injured, but it was too similar. No, she had to do something, it was too close to be her imagination. She followed the scent, repeatable calling out her friends name in worry. "Oh god, if something happed...", it sounded too awful to be true, bonnie, possible dying? No, she wasn't gonna let that happen, she raced across the forest, following her nose.

And then she stopped.

There was a body lying on the ground, upon closer inspection the vampire realized it belonged to a man, a very pink man. He seemed young, and he was easy on the eyes as well, but he was definitely not familiar to her. She didn't know what to do, Finn and Jake were the heroes around here, how was she supposed to react? The man's eyes were closed, and his arm was bleeding. Marceline would've thought him dead, but he breathed in slowly, it was like he was asleep. She sat on the ground next to him, resisting the urge to try to consume his blood. "And what are you doing out here...?" She asked quietly.

She looked around the area, perhaps thinking a monster might be watching when a glimmer caught her eye. She checked out the source to find a shiny object hidden in one of the bushes, she bit her lip, not exactly wanting to leave the man's side. Keeping an eye on him, she snatched the object. Brushing some filth off she realized that this was far from something that should be out here...

It was a crown

"What the-" She examined the object carefully, she never wore crowns herself but she met too many royals to not know what one was. She quickly rushed back to the man's side, perhaps this belonged to him? Or maybe he was a thief, and had stolen it from another high class royal. No, he didn't look much like a thief, he had a kind face and looked to pure to be some kind of criminal. Unless he looked like that on purpose to avoid being arrested...

She hesitantly placed her hand on his cheek, he felt soft, she roughly shacked his head, trying to wake him. "Please wake up..." She grumbled, she didn't want to leave him to die, his presence left too many questions in her head. She roughly shook his shoulders, now perched above him. "Come on dude, wake up...", he didn't wake, but he made a small noise, a moan, perhaps he was asleep and was having a bad dream?

She traced her finger over his face, he looked familiar, but she didn't know why.

She almost considered slapping him to get a reaction, but he was already hurt enough.

But then suddenly, the man's eyes snapped open. At first everything was a blur for him, till he saw a girl perched above him, he froze. He red eyes were staring into hers, piercing him, he gulped.

Marceline gasped when he woke, his purple eyes staring into hers in fear. She immediately got off of him, she didn't know why, but she felt red with embarrassment. "Who are you?!" She asked, rather aggressive.

"I-I..." He mumbled, he didn't know what to say. Then he felt something trickle down his arm, he realized he was bleeding. He held it in pain, his facial expression telling the girl that he needed help.

Marcy just stared at him, he seemed harmless enough, she fell back to the ground and took his arm. "Looks like you only cut it, can you feel anything, like, can you move it?" She didn't know why, but she felt bad for him, she felt bad for this man she never met before.

He nodded, wiggling his fingers, "I-it really hurts...". He looked around, he still appeared to be in the forest. He just wanted to get back home, he didn't care how much peppermint maid would yell at him from going into the woods or if he had to choose someone to marry. He just wanted to leave and get back in his nice warm bed, have a cup of tea, and clean himself up.

"I-I need to get home..." He mumbled, "I want to leave..."

"What are you even doing out here?" Marceline questioned, "You don't exactly look like you belong way out here..."

"I-I was out for a walk...and I- I got lost..." He said, sobbing. "Please help me..."

Gumball took a good look at this mysterious women, her unusual features, her long raven hair, Her skin that almost appeared to be glowing in the moonlight, the red eyes he woke up to. But her eyes weren't the only odd thing about her that caught his attention, his eyes stopped looking at her own and traced down to her mouth, he noticed two small teeth between her lips.

She had fangs. 

He started to back away, crawling with his one available hand. "Y-you're a vampire!" He exclaimed, "Please...don't hurt me or anything...I just want to go home...". Marshall may not hurt him, but not all vampires were like Marshall. He was trembling now, terrified of the beautiful young women who looked upon him.

She watched him crawl away, he was terrified, of her. This was natural to her, having people be frightened by her, but this wasn't the time for him to be frightened. No, this guy needed help, now wasn't the time for him to be freaked out by her and her vampire-ness.

"Yeah...fine...I'm a vampire..." She said, "So what?"

He looked her over, realizing she wasn't going to attack him. "y-you don't want to hurt me?"

"No...I'm trying to help you idiot. if I wanted to hurt you, don't you think I could've done so when you were unconscious?". She crossed her arms, now upset and completely irritated with the stranger. "So who are you anyways?"

He hesitated, she didn't SEEM dangerous, but then again neither did fionna. Even if he could run away there wasn't anywhere to go, and he didn't know where he was, and she DID find him. He quickly tried to calm himself down, "I-I'm prince gumball...I rule the candy kingdom..."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, "Uh...no...no you don't...princess bubblegum rules that place..." She eyed him up and down, "Although...you do remind me of her a little...are you guys like...related or something?" She remembered the crown, if he was indeed a prince, than this was definitely his.

"Princess bubblegum? W-where am I? I'm the only one who rules my kingdom...I have no relations..." Something was wrong, this girl didn't appear to know him, just how far away from home was he? He was beginning to panic again and he knew it, he relaxed himself by thinking. No, he as still in Aaa, everything was fine, he was probably just dreaming, he'd wake up in his bed and everything would be just fine... 

But it was all too real

Marceline took the time to think. Prince Gumball? Prince Gumball? Why did that name sound so familiar? Ugh, it didn't matter, this guy was totally bonkers, he needed some serious help. He was rambling on about being the prince of the candy kingdom and was clearly messed up. Marceline debated whether she probably should just leave him, but even that would be too cruel for her to do. Instead, she reached out her hand to him, wanting to help him stand up.

He took it, her skin was cold, he stood up. He realized he was actually much taller than the women, and that she had only appeared bigger from her constant floating. He gave her a sincere smile for the first time, "Thank you..." He said, "For finding me...I could've died out here..."

"Uh, you're welcome I guess..." She said, shrugging. Then she realized they were still holding hands and quickly removed herself from his grasp. "You kinda left a huge scent when it came to the blood y'know?"

He looked down at his injured arm, "Well, at least me being injured helped in some way...". Then he realized something he forgot, "Forgive me, but I never asked for your name..."

She sighed, "It's Marceline..."

"That's a nice name..."

"It's okay..."

She looked at his arm, "Y'know, we could head to my house and I could probably wrap that thing up for you...", looking at it wasn't comforting and she might as well just help him out of these woods at least. Maybe tomorrow she could hand him off to pb and she could find his home for him.

"Well...I don't know? I mean...how am I sure you won't hurt me or something?" He still didn't fully trust this girl, and being invited to her home was a sure way for her to do terrible thing to him.

"Well, to be honest...you don't..." She said, "But I'm your only ticket out of here at the moment...and I'm sure I'm not the only one who smelt your blood..."

His eyes widened, noises could be heard in the distance. If Marceline could smell his blood from a mile away, sure as heck a number of other dangerous creatures could have. He moved a little closer to her, feeling a little bit more safe having a powerful vampire around to defend him.

Marceline, on the other hand, thought he was going to attack her and hissed at him, causing him to topple back. "I'm sorry..." He said, panicking, "I-I just- I'm freaked out okay? I have so much to live for, I have people who depend on me, I have friends who care about me, an- and I have to marry someone for my kingdom...I just..." . He sniffled, "Please help me...I don't wanna die out here..."

She felt bad for him, he seemed rather genuine, but there was obviously something wrong with him. She took his shoulders in her hands, and looked him straight in the eye, "Hey, calm down...look...I'm gonna get you outta here alright? I'll take you to my place, well fix up your arm, and we'll see about finding your home in the morning..."

"In the morning?"

"You can stay the night if you want..." She suggested, "Unless you'd rather sleep out here with all the monsters..."

Then out of nowhere and catching the vampire completely off guard, the man pulled her into a hug, sobbing into her shoulder. "Thank you...thank you so much Marceline..."

Maybe he couldn't fully trust her right now, but her home had to be better than being out here...he had to take a chance. Marceline on the other hand didn't know what she was doing, why was she inviting him into her home? She didn't know this guy, much less trust him yet. Inviting him into her home could lead to many terrible consequences, and yet, she couldn't let him die, she had to risk it, but it was only for one night anyway right? One night and he'd be out of her life forever...

When he let go of her she floated upwards and asked for his hand, "Listen, I know flying is kinda scary...but it's probably the fastest way out..". Bubba hesitated and took it, then she yanked him towards her, causing him to clutch her waist in fear.

She smirked, before floating up and out of the dark woods.


	2. Roomates

The prince was trying his hardest to not look down as he buried his face into the vampires shoulder. He felt wind push against him and Marceline hold him tightly, he managed to open one eye. Her long hair was flying out of her face, allowing him to see her a lot better, she almost reminded him of Marshall. Same messy hair, same pale skin, same pointy ears...he almost wondered if they were related in some way. They looked similar enough, perhaps he'd have to ask her later...

Marceline noticed him staring at her, and gave him a look. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked, rather rudely.

"Er...sorry...y-you just remind me of somebody I know..." She turned away, feeling red at being caught. "I Do?" She asked, curious. "Ain't nobody like, me, cept me...". She kept her face away from his, "Plus I rarely see vampires out here anywhere...". Bubba bit his lip, he must be pretty far from home if this women didn't know of another vampire, and if Marshall knew of her, he most certainty would've told him...

He stayed quiet throughout the rest of the flight, avoiding Marceline's gaze, he just held tight till she dropped to the ground. When Marceline hit solid ground, bubba got off, brushing himself off. "Y'know, that flight wasn't so bad...my friend Marshall tends to try and drop me..." He chuckled, Marceline raised an eyebrow, "Your friend is named Marshall?"

"Yes..."

"And he's a vampire?"

"Yeah...something wrong with that?"

She shrugged, "No...it's nothing...c'mon, we better get inside...". He followed her and just now realized exactly where he was, in a cave, right next to a purple house. "Hey...isn't this-?" He could've sworn this was Marshall lee's house, same color, same basketball court and garden, same size, same everything. His mouth dropped, he didn't know what to say, he stopped in his tracks while Marceline was on her porch.

She looked at him, "Are you coming or not? Cause I can just as easily leave you out here..."

"Uh...yeah I'm coming..." He rushed up behind her and she opened the door for him. Bubba stopped in his tracks when he entered her home, it resembled Marshalls so much it was scary. "I-I don't understand..." He mumbled, "This...this is so weird..." He turned towards Marceline, looking at her features curiously. "You...you look like him...and now you both live in the same house..I- I don't understand.."

She put her hands on her hips, "Listen dude...I don't know what your talking about but I suggest we focus on the matter at hand...". She nodded towards his arm, "We better patch that biz up already...and then you can ramble on about your friend all you want...". Bubba took a seat on her couch, realizing it was as hard as a rock, "This thing kinda hurts..." He grunted, "Why haven't you replaced it?"

"Well, I don't really use it and I don't normally have guests, so uh yeah...I haven't really found an excuse to do so..." She opened the hatch on the wall, and went up into her bedroom, her bedroom connected with the bathroom. Grabbing the first aid kit, she went back downstairs and found some bandages to wrap up the man's arm.

"So...gumball right? Hold out your arm, I'm gonna wrap it up..." He obeyed, and she wrapped it up with gauze. She had no need for the first aid kit herself, being she could heal fast, so she had plenty of materials to spare. She was being extra careful, she didn't want to hurt him, and she wanted to make sure her animal side didn't take over and try to drink his blood. It was all too tempting, having injured prey so close by. She couldn't do that though, not to him.

"Gumball is my last name..." He mumbled, She looked up from her work, "Really? What's your first?". Gumball pouted, "Your gonna laugh...but it's bubba...", he was too used to his name being made fun of, he wished he had something a little more common of a name.

She didn't laugh though, "It's alright...'Marceline' isn't exactly a common name either..." She finished wrapping his arm and he took a look over her work, "Thank you, and to be honest, I think your names pretty nice..." He said, with a genuine smile.

She huffed, "You don't need to be so nice to me y'know?"

He smiled a big smile, exposing his teeth, "Why not? When your a prince your kinda required to treat ladies with respect...which reminds me..." He took her hand, and out of habit, he brought her knuckles to his lips.

She pulled away immediately, blushing like mad, and trying to cover it up with anger. "Y-you...wh-?" She stuttered, not knowing what to say, she was caught completely off guard and wasn't sure how to respond. Bubba looked at her as if he'd done something wrong, it looked as if he'd hurt her, but he hadn't. He'd never met someone who took a small sign of kindness and thanks and had looked disgusted by it.

"I- I- I'm so sorry..." He didn't know what to say to her, but he felt embarrassed.

"N-no it's nothing..." She said, "I-I'm just not used to guys doing that to me..." And indeed she wasn't, Bubba was indeed the first who had the bravery enough to do such a thing.

"Oh...I didn't know..."

"Well, you couldn't have known..." She stood up, "Tomorrow I'll introduce you to bonnie, and she can take you home from here...so I'll guess we have to find you a place to sleep..." She looked around, "Couch or the floor, your choice..."

"uhhhhh..." He eyed the hatch in the rooms ceiling, this had to have led to her bedroom. Surely she had to have something he could sleep on?

But the look on Marceline's face told him otherwise.

"Listen bubba, tonight, your staying in _**my**_ cave, so you follow _ **my**_ rules, got it?" She crossed her arms, meaning she meant serious business.

"Alright.."

"First rule, you are **not** and I mean **not** , allowed in my room unless you have to pee...its the only way to the bathroom..." She said, "Secondly, you do not touch anything your not supposed to! If you steal from me, I'll break your arm..."

Bubba hesitated, listening closely, making sure he paid full attention to each and every word she said.

"And finally, don't wake schwabl, I'd rather he didn't keep me up tonight..."

"Who-"

A small white dog plopped itself onto the couch next to him, it was a poodle, but it had dead, lifeless eyes. It sniffed the pink prince and licked his check, "Awwwww..." Gumball placed the dog on his lap and petted its soft head. "He seems nice, what kind of dog is he anyway?"

"He's a zombie dog." She said plainly, admiring the man as he played with the dog, Schwabl clearly grew a liking to him.

Bubba's eyes widened,"Isn't that dangerous? Keeping a zombie around?". Marceline brushed some loose hair out of her face, "Nah, he's harmless, look at his cute face...". Bubba smirked, "I love dogs...I think he likes me...". And as if on cue, the dog instantly licked his face, he laughed at this silliness, feeling an instant comfort in this home.

Marceline even smiled, she had to admit, this was cute. "Oh, I'm sure he's just licking you cause your candy..." She teased, "He'll probably just gobble you up tonight...". Bubba stuck out his tongue, "Very funny...Marcy.". He called her Marcy, a nickname, something really her friends only called her. She instantly blushed at this, he was growing a sense of comfort around being in her presence.

"So...uh...I guess I'll get you some...blankets or whatever..." She said, she turned to go find some before bubba spoke up. "Wait" he said, "What about sleepwear...this is all I have...can I borrow something to sleep in?" He hated to ask, but he felt it necessary. Marceline just looked at him, " Why? Just sleep in your underwear or something...".

"No...I need something nicer, can I just borrow a shirt and some sweatpants...please?"

Groaning, she flew up the ladder and went to her closet, she picked out some old blankets, an old pillow, and tossed them down. Then she returned and found an old rock shirt she hadn't worn in forever and some sweatpants for her guest, tossing them right after.

Bubba climbed up the ladder, carrying the new clothes. Marceline was gonna push him out, but he was only here to change in the bathroom. "Wow...your room..." The resemblance to Marshall's was incredible, but it had some differences, such as the axe bass in the corner, Marshall had an axe guitar."

He went into the bathroom to change, making sure the door was completely closed before doing so. He called out to Marceline, "Is it okay if I clean myself up? I think it's best I wash up from being out there in the woods..."

Marceline bit her lip, "Fine, go ahead...I guess that's fine...". The water started to run in her tub, and she decided it was best if she got ready for bed herself. She changed into a tank top and some sweats, getting herself ready for bed. She yawned and tried to comb the knots out of her long dark hair, it tended to get tangled very easily. 30 minutes later, she was waiting on her bed for bubba to come out. And soon he did, feeling fresh and alive, he was wearing the outfit Marceline had given him. It was an old rock shirt, she hadn't worn it in forever, it was black, with a picture of a bleeding heart.

It went well with bubba's skin tone and hair color, and she wouldn't admit it, but it suited him very well.

"So...how do I look?" He asked.

"Great..." She replied. 

He let his arms fall to his side, smiling. "This shirt is nice...you enjoy rock bands?" He asked, sitting down next to her on the bed, he felt the soft mattress beneath him, obviously much softer than the couch downstairs. She shrugged, "Yeah...I'm in a band so...". Bubba's eyes widened, "Really?! you play? That's awesome...".

Marceline chuckled at his excitement, "Well, yeah...I play bass...". She nodded towards the axe leaning against the wall, "Made that myself...I write songs and stuff, it's kinda cool I guess...". She crossed her legs, sitting in a more comfortable position. "So, what about you...what do you do as a...prince?".

He sighed, "Work, work, and more work...it's kinda my life y'know?'. She looked at him confusion, "Then why do you wanna go back so badly? I mean,your finally getting a break...". He turned away, suddenly sad, "My people rely on me...I can't just abandon them...I hope I get home soon.."

He stood up, "So you live alone out here?", he asked.

"Yeah...I used to have a boyfriend awhile back, but right now, it's just me..." She clearly didn't want to talk about this with him, not right now. "Listen bubba...you better go to bed, the sooner we sleep the sooner we get up and find your home."

Bubba nodded, "Yeah...sorry if I'm being a burden to you...I- I've just never been so lost in all my life." And it was true, he hadn't been, we was so used to having others take care of him. Now, lost in who knows where, he didn't know what to do anymore. He couldn't be more thankful of Marceline's presence, and her kindness, she was almost like his guardian angle in a way, coming to his rescue.

"Your not a burden..." She said, "Not at all..."

He gave her one last smile of gratitude, "Thank you Marceline, goodnight..." And he descended down the ladder.

Marceline fell back against the covers, looking up at the ceiling. She sighed, This was one of the most strangest nights she'd ever experienced, but she had to admit, he was okay. He was unusually nice, and sickly sweet to her, he was mysterious. "Who are you..." She mumbled to herself, soon enough, she turned out the lights, and pulled the covers over herself.

"Goodnight...dork.."

-

The vampire opened her eyes a crack and let out a moan, she pulled the covers over her head.

She wanted to sleep in, like she normally did.

But the smell of...something was now keeping her up.

She let out another groan, remembering she wasn't the only one in the house right now.

That last night she had picked up a man she found in the middle of the woods, and let him stay with her tonight.

She didn't want to get up...but the smell was oh so good and she had to so see what it was.

So reluctantly, and slowly, her first foot found its way off the bed. Soon enough the other touched the floor as well, she sat up on the bed, rubbing her eyes out, ugh what time was it anyway? She turned towards the clock on her bedside table, "6:00?!" She said, upset. This was way too early for her taste, normally she'd sleep in almost till noon. She grumbled to herself, not knowing what to say to bubba down below.

She floated down the ladder, cranky, ready to rage. But when she got downstairs she recognized the smell coming from the kitchen, bacon, and by the looks of it, gumball was cooking it up for breakfast. He smiled when he saw her enter, he had set up the kitchen quite nicely. There was only one table in the kitchen, and it was only for two people, bubba had it set up with plates of red fruit and tableware for them to eat with.

Marceline's expression was priceless, she clearly didn't know what to say about this. He had made breakfast, for the two of them, she felt like she should angry he went through her food, but this was an exception. She just looked at it all in wonder, and her expression of shock was clear, bubba grinned even more at seeing it. He cooked up the last of the bacon and served in on a plate, the plate joined the others on the table.

"Y-you cook?" She didn't know what to say,.

"Yeah, I do...I love to bake specifically.." He smiled, "I'm sorry about using your food, but since we're parting ways today, I thought it'd be nice..." He indicated for her to sit at the table, "I'm sorry about waking you up early, but this is normally when I get up, so- force of habit I guess...". Marceline sat down and bubba sat across from her, "No one's made me breakfast before..." She said, "This stuff looks really good..."

"Thank you Marceline..." He said, "And once again I must thank you for taking me in last night, your floor wasn't the best sleeping area, but It was better than those woods..." He served some bacon and some fruit on her plate, "Eat up, and then we can go meet your friend and I can head home."

She looked at the food, not sure about eating it. But then she plucked a strawberry and sucked it dry of it's red, bubba took a bite of a strawberry himself, "I put my clothes in your washer last night, they should be dry bout now and I can change..."

"You can keep that shirt if you want..." She mumbled, "Not like I need it anyway...keep it as a memory of me." He looked at her, "Thank you...I'll make sure to invite you to my kingdom sometime, you could meet my friends and everything..."

They continued to eat, Marceline was stuffing herself with the food, it was good, it was REALLY good.

She wasn't a very good cook herself, it had been a long time since she'd eaten this good.

Bubba could tell she was enjoying it, back home he made food for his friends all the time. They loved his treats, and he enjoyed making them for other people, nothing was more fun than making treats for people. He loved seeing this girl's expression as she ate, as if she couldn't even believe what she was eating.

When they finished up they cleaned the dishes and bubba went upstairs to fetch his clothes.

Marceline sat downstairs and waited patiently, she wondered how she'd approach this to bonnie, saying she found some random guy in the middle of the woods. He said he lived in the candy kingdom, so that was a start.

Bubba came down soon enough in his old clothing, "The upstairs is all yours, if you want to change.". She didn't resist, changing into some old jeans a hoodie and some sneakers, heading back downstairs she found bubba, ready to go. "Shall we get a move on?" He asked, she nodded and they both ventured outside. Bubba held onto Marceline as she flew into the air, holding onto him just as tightly. She could see the candy kingdom soon ahead, where her friend, princess bubblegum lived.

Gumball saw it himself, and he couldn't help but think how much it looked like his own, was this his kingdom? so far nothing was as it seems, the house that looked like Marshall's was clearly Marceline's. Perhaps this was another candy kingdom? He couldn't be sure, everything was odd right now.

Marceline was thinking very similarly, "Hey gumbutt...that kingdom up ahead...does it look like the one you rule?" she had to ask.

"Yeah...it looks exactly like it..." He answered.

She bit her lip, thinking. She'd been thinking about this for so long, he seemed so familiar, but she didn't know where she knew him from. She just couldn't put her finger on it, why did he seem so familiar?

They made it to the front entrance, and Marceline dropped him on the ground, she floated alongside him as the two made their way into the castle's walls. Bubba looked around curiously, silently thinking about how much the inside of the castle looked like his own.

"YO BONNIE WHERE ARE YA!" Marcy screamed, cupping her hands around her mouth. Bubba stayed close to her, watching candy citizens past by, "It looks like home...it feels like home...". "WHAT?!" Came a yell, "But it's not home..."

An angry woman came running down the hall, her crown was crooked on her head and she had an angry expression on her face. "Marceline...what in Ooo could be so important that you forced me to come down here?!" She crossed her arms, she was pink, her skin very similar to gumball, gumball looked at her curiously from behind Marceline.

Bonnie only noticed gumball out of the corner of her eye, looking at him in a similar fascination. "Marceline...who's this?" She eyed him up and down, curious about him and his sudden appearance in her kingdom. Marceline crossed her arms, a smug grin on her face, "Well bonnie... _ **this**_ happens to be one of _**your**_ candy people, I found him in the woods. I thought you put trackers in your citizens? How'd you lose THIS guy?"

"y-you shouldn't know about that Marcy..." She grumbled, "And I've never seen him before...". Marceline raised an eyebrow, "But he's candy...where else would he come from?". Gumball piped up, "I said I ruled the candy kingdom Marceline...but...this doesn't appear to be the case here..". He stepped forward, towards the princess, reaching out a hand. "My name is Prince Bubba Gumball of the candy kingdom of Aaa, Marceline saved me...it is a pleasure to meet you..."

They shook hands.

"A prince?" PB said, "I do not believe we've met before..."

Gumball agreed, "Nope, I feel like I'd remember you if we had..."

Marceline floated there, bored already of the two royals conversation. She crossed legs in midair and sat there with a plain bored expression on her face, she rested her head on her hands. Bubblegum hesitantly touched his hair, "You do appear to be made of gum, but I've never quite met someone with a similar structure to mine, your a lot like me...".

"Well bonnie, that's not all..." Marceline rudely interrupted, "He also has a crown...". She pulled out the shiny object from her hoodie's pocket, Gumballs eye widened as he realized he'd forgotten all about his crown. "Hey! That's mine!" He complained, but pb already had it and was looking at it. "The gem _**seems**_ to be real..." She said, "But even if it was, it is clear that he doesn't rule my kingdom ..."

"But it IS true!" The prince argued, "I'm not lying, I'm royalty, I swear to you I am...I'm so confused..." He held his head, frustrated. Where in the world was he? And why couldn't he find his way back home?

PB turned towards Marceline, "Can we have a converstion...in private?", she nodded and the two put some distance between themselves and the candy prince. Than she aggressively took her vampire friend's shoulders, "Listen Marcy..." She whispered, "I know you brought your friend here today hoping I could help him...but I don't think I can. I know nothing about him marcy and he seems delusional..."

She let go of her shoulders, voice becoming sad. "I'm sorry Marcy, but there's nothing I can do for him.."

Marceline hissed, "So what? Does that mean I'm stuck with him till he finds his home? Bonnie I can't, I don't want him here...". Bubblegum became stern, "Show him more kindness Marceline, he needs help and he might as well stay with you...you live alone after all, and he could use a friend. Listen, I know you don't want to, but until he gets home he should stay with someone, someone who can talk to him and figure out how to get him home...and I'm afraid it's gotta be you."

Marceline huffed, she didn't want to babysit someone, she just wanted everything to go back to normal.

But bonnie was right, he needed someone, and who better than the lonely vampire queen?

She hated when she was right.

"Fine, I'll babysit gumbutt. But _**you**_ have to help me find his home once I figure out were it is...and I need enough money to get him food and clothes and whatever else he needs" She held out her hand, waiting for her to accept it.

And she did, "Alright, deal. Take care Marcy...keep me in touch"

"Yeah, yeah..."

She floated unenthusiastically towards the prince, who was rambling to himself in worry and frustration. He even sounded as if he was about to cry, he was pacing and holding his head. "Oh god they must all be so worried...". He'd never felt more terrible in all his life, nothing could compare to the pain he was feeling right now.

Marceline tried to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Hey..." She said softly, "You gonna be okay?".

He stopped moving when he felt her hand on his shoulder, "She's not gonna help me is she...?" He asked silently. He knew the answer, he didn't want to know but it seemed so obvious. it was hopeless, if someone of high authority couldn't help him, who could? He desperately wished he hadn't left his kingdoms walls.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fault ...I was an idiot, I never should've left home..." He pulled away from her, " I'm assuming I need to find a new place to stay...?". She turned him to face her, "No...hey, listen, you can still stay with me... _ **I'll**_ help you get home...". She sucked in another breath, "Forget bonnie...I'm gonna help you..."

"Why?" He asked, "What have I ever done for you?"

She just looked at him, she didn't have an answer. "C'mon...we better get going..."

-

Knock knock

"Hey...gumball?" Marceline asked, leaning her head against the bathroom door, "You okay?". She could hear him mumble to himself in the bathroom, she could only imagine the things he was going through right now, the frustrations. She desperately wished there was something more she could do for him, but there wasn't, the best she could do was provide him a roof over his head, food in his mouth, and clothes on his back.

She helped only out of pity, and now she helped because she had to.

She wondered if they'd even find his home, because he was clearly determined to prove he was the prince of the candy kingdom. Maybe she'd have to ask Finn and Jake, after all, they were very familiar with all the kingdoms around Ooo, being heroes. They could easily communicate with the other kingdoms and explain bubba's situation, find out where he came from. But for now, she was stuck with him.

She knocked again, this time getting somewhat of a response.

"I don't wanna talk Marcy..." Came a yell from the other side of the door.

"C'mon dude, you cant just mope in there forever..."

"I don't care..."

"FINE!" She growled, "Go ahead..."

She grabbed her axe bass and went downstairs, she was frustrated, this guy was becoming a piece of work and it was driving her nuts. She floated above her couch, perching her bass on her lap and strumming some of the chords. She tuned her instrument and silently played, she wanted some peace and quite, just some time that didn't involve babysitting this crazy prince. At least her music took her away from the harsh reality she lived in.

Bubba was sitting on the toilet seat, he didn't want to leave the bathroom.

He was so excited to go home, and now he wasn't sure he would ever go home. He wished he could've been a better friend to his own friends, he gave up on them, the thoughts he had were horrible. He wished he could see them again, tell them he was okay, they had to be worried about him, right? He wasn't used to being unable to do anything, his entire job as a prince involved constantly doing things to help others.

And where was he? Moping on the toilet in some vampires bathroom.

"Some prince I am..." He mumbled.

Than he heard some music downstairs, Marceline must be playing something, since she told him she was a musician. He felt bad, she was putting all this effort into taking care of him and trying to help and he was treating it like nothing.

He climbed down the ladder, feet touching the ground, he saw Marceline playing in mid air and stood there silently, watching. She was truly talented, she was clearly lost in her own music, and bubba didn't want to disturb her. He sat down on the floor and watched, he hoped she look up from her playing and talk to him, but he had the feeling she was either ignoring him, or didn't realize he was even there to begin with.

In the end, he decided to make the first move.

"Marceline..." He said, softly, "I'm sorry about what's been happening lately...with me..."

She stopped playing.

He continued, "It's been really hard on me...what I'm going through...I'm just so...angry, with myself. I'm sorry I've been such a bother lately, your just trying to help and I'm not giving you any credit for it. You've been so kind as to help me, and if I'm glad of anything about being out here, I'm glad I got to meet someone like you..."

"We don't even know each other..." She grumbled, "Don't say things you don't mean..."

"I do mean it..." He said, "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just not used to living like this...having a roommate, living like this."

She looked at him, "Listen dork, I get it, your suffering inside because of all guilt and biz. The reason I want to help is because I want to, nothing else. But if you ask me, I say you should relax a little, maybe your far from home, but I'm _ **going**_ to help you alright? I don't help people often, so take that as a compliment."

He smiled, finally feeling the smallest bit of hope. "Thank you miss Marceline...you are truly a wonderful person."

"Yeah yeah..." She said, "So since you cook...got any ideas for dinner?"

He grinned, "Your one hungry gal aren't you?"

She gave him a similar smirk.

"Of course..."


	3. Homesick

"Yo bubba!" Marceline caught up to the pink prince, who was currently looking in nearby stores for new clothing. "Oh, Marceline!" He said with a smile, "There you are! I couldn't find you." She adjusted her hat and gloves, she didn't want the sun to roast her while she was out here. She and bubba were out shopping with the money bonnie lent them, only a couple days ago Marceline had found bubba in the middle of the woods, and now he was living with her till he could find his home.

And since he was living with her now, he needed some food for him to eat, and some clothes to wear.

"Find anything?" She asked, "I got some more groceries, maybe we can make spaghetti tonight?". She held up some grocery bags, they were heavy, quite heavy.

"Spaghetti sounds wonderful..." He said, excited to cook it up tonight. "Well, I found quite a few items I can wear for awhile, not quite sure how much I'll need...". He too, was carrying some heavy bags. Last night Marceline had contacted her friends by the names of Finn and Jake, Which bubba kept in mind of how much they reminded me of the adventuresses back home. According to Marceline, they were out communicating with the other kingdoms, hopefully at least one ruler would know about him and tell him the way home.

"I got you some stuff too..." Marceline said, "Dug through my closet and found some old stuff you can take..."

"But aren't they girl clothes?"

"Not ALL of them..." She said, mocking, "do I seem _ **girly**_ to you?"

"Well...no." He answered truthfully, Marceline was probably the least feminine of a female he'd ever met, she wasn't as polite as most of the women he's met and wasn't nearly as clean or as orderly. She was unique, something bubba couldn't help but admire about her, she was different than everybody and was perfectly happy being so.

"Than you'll be fine...don't worry bout by clothes dude, just be glad your wearing something." She smirked, "You ready to go?". Bubba nodded, "It'll be getting late soon, we should move...". The two started their journey home, Marceline could hear whispers among the crowd of people who wear watching them. Her vampire hearing causing her to hear every little word said.

"So who's that with Marceline?"

"I hear he's her new roommate...creepy"

"Look, the vampire queen has a boyfriend."

She grunted, she was beginning to kinda like bubba's company, she defiantly could've found someone much worse to be stuck with her. But bubba was nice company, he cleaned after himself, did most of his own cores, made great food. These past couple days were really nice with him around, he was a lot more reliable than most of the people Marceline had met in the past. She remembered when she and Ash lived together, he never did anything, and made her do things for him. He was a lousy person to live with, she was so glad she didn't have to put up with him anymore.

Even though she liked having bubba around, it pissed her off how much people teased her for having him around. They weren't dating, they only knew each other for a couple of days, there was nothing between them right now.

She didn't want to let it bother her though, there were more important things to worry about. Bubba walked alongside her, trying to catch up, he was thankful when he reached the house's doors, his arms were killing him. They set down their bags and took a moment to relax their arms, Schwabl pranced to his master side, and Marceline picked him and started patting his soft head. 

"Well, that was fun..." Bubba said, "I've never really gone shopping before...". He reached into the grocery bags and started to put items away, "It's a lot of fun, y'know, hanging out and doing stuff like this..."

She looked at him curiously, "Why? You have friends, shouldn't you guys do this kind of stuff all the time?"

"Well, I don't always have time for it...and when I do...well-" He bit his lip, "I- I guess I'm just not anyone's first pick to hang out with..." He silently put the rest of the groceries away, not really facing the vampire queen or paying any attention to her.

Marceline took not of this behavior, "What do you mean? ". He shrugged, "it's just...I don't know. I guess I just feel like a third wheel most of the time..., I went into the woods that night because I was upset by them. My best friends, and they couldn't even be there for me that night...". He sighed, "I don't know...they're my best friends, and I love them, but sometimes I still feel-"

"Alone..." She said, finishing his sentence. She put the dog down and hugged her arms, " Yeah, I know what you mean...". Living alone was one sure way to feel alone, but considering her species and how her own friends spent more time with their own stuff these days, she could just as easily relate to how he was feeling. She was a loner most of her life, even when she was a child.

"Hey...if you don't mind me saying...I don't think your _**that**_ bad to hang out with..." She said, almost in an awkward fashion.

He returned the favor with a small smile, "Thank you..."

Marceline removed her hat and gloves and placed them on the kitchen counter, then she took a look inside bubbas shopping bag full of new clothing. "Why is a lot of this stuff pink? I mean, I know you are pink, but that doesn't mean you need to wear it.". He frowned, "What's wrong with pink? it's a fine color, I shouldn't be embarrassed to wear it.". She realized she said something wrong when he gave her that look, " Er, sorry...don't see many guys who wear pink..."

"I know...it's not common, but I like it."

"Well, I guess it _**does**_ suite you." She said, looking him over. "Although, I think my stuff will look a little bit better on you..."

"Is that so?"

She looked him over, "Well, that shirt looks nice doesn't it? you outta wear darker colors, brings out your skin tone and stuff." He looked down at himself and chuckled, he was indeed, wearing the shirt she gave him, he didn't exactly have many options as far as clothing until now, so he had to wear it again. "Well, thanks...but I don't think that stuff works for me too well...". He shrugged, "But I'll keep it in mind..."

He clapped his hands together, "Well, it's almost 6:00, we outta get started on the food now, and then maybe the two of us could do something fun." Even though his mind was still worried and anxious to get home, he no longer saw a point in panicking, he was trying to stay happy. He didn't want to worry Marceline or anyone else right now, it was best he just stayed calm until he and Marcy found a solution.

Therefore, he planned to enjoy this time.

He found Marceline's company to be nice, and very much welcome these last few days. She wasn't the best person to live with, but she was friendly and he found her to be likable, she was goofy, gross, yet she was wise, and talented. He almost wondered why she was alone, she seemed like a cool person, so far. She reminded him of Marshall in many ways, yet she was different. If he had gotten stuck in the woods and Marshall had found him, who knows if he would've done the same thing for him.

At least if he had to be in one's company during this time, he was glad it was her. She was a pretty decent host, and even though she was kinda moody sometimes, she was still a very kind and cool gal. She loved to tease him, last night she had snuck downstairs and covered his face in whip cream. He had woken up, angry, but amused at the same time. Perhaps since yesterday had been so hard for him, finding out the princess couldn't help left him devastated. Maybe a good laugh was really all he needed at such times.

The prince went into the kitchen and begun to boil some water, Marceline wandered out of the room, "Just tell me when you've finished alright?". She was going to go upstairs and take a nap till dinner was ready, but she felt someone take her hand firmly.

"Oh, no you don't...your gonna help me...", He wasn't here to make her dinner and just do things for her, as roommates, it was equal between them. Besides, he wanted to do more things with her that didn't involve the fact that he was stuck living with her. They needed to have some fun together, or at least, cooking and baking were fun ideals for him. It was almost impossible to convince Marshall to bake with him, and fionna wasn't all that into it.

She tugged, but it was clear he wasn't gonna give up. So with a deep sigh and a irritated growl, she followed him into the kitchen, "Ugh, so what do I gotta do...". He grinned, "For now just keep an eye on the water, tell me when it boils so I can put the noodles in." She stared into the pot, "So you forced me to go over here so I could stare at some water? Really bubba? couldn't you give me something more important?"

Bubba poured the sauce into another pot and turned on the heat, "Well, you could always cook the meatballs?"

The two got to work, Marceline wasn't exactly a great cook, so bubba was constantly helping her out, he almost found her lack of experience, cute. She was making pouty faces and grumbling and treating this all like it was torture, and it was amusing to him to see her overreact to this all like that. When the food was ready to serve and the table was set, they took their places and bubba was kind enough to make Marceline's plate for her.

She took a bite, "It's reel gewd." Gumball filled his plate as well, he took a bite, it was still hot and delicious. "Yeah..." He agreed, "We did a good job with it...maybe later we can make dessert.."

"Like what?"

"Hmmmm...cookies sound good to you?"

"Whatever works for you..."

She continued to eat, slurping up the noodles and drinking the sauces red each time she took a bite. "So bubba...I'm curious, you said you had friends. no girlfriend? boyfriend?". He almost spit out his food, "W-why are you asking?". She shrugged, "Just curious...I would've though you'd be in a relationship, if you're a prince y'know?"

"Well..." He started, "I was supposed to be engaged to someone...pick out someone to marry...". She looked up, raising an eyebrow in curiosity, "You were gonna get married to some random woman?"

He shrugged, "I didn't have a say in it...I didn't want to do it."

"And did you pick someone?"

He bit his lip, "No..."

He silently continued to eat, now refusing to look up at her, he didn't want to talk about this. His love life was a sensitive topic, it wasn't fun to discuss how many times he'd been rejected and how many times he'd been introduced to suitors. He took another bite of his food, he might as well have buried his face in the stuff based on how close it was to the plate. Marceline played with her food now, giving him a look that said she knew something was up with him.

"You know...you could always **_tell me_** if something is bothering you, if we're gonna live together it'd be kinda nice to know who exactly I'm stuck with...".She smirked, "As far as I know, you could be some sort of monster who eats peoples brains in their sleep..."

He smiled a little bit, "Well, I don't think that's quite what I'm like, but I guess your right. Well, it's just...I haven't been in a relationship since..."

"Forever?"

"Yeah...I guess I'm not exactly great at dating.."

"Hey, it's not like I'm doing any better.." She said, taking another bite of food, "My last boyfriend sold my teddy bear off to a witch...haven't dated since...". She was lying though, she had been in one other relationship before, bonnie, but that was something to private to mention to him, ash would have to do for now. Bubba looked at her with concern, "He sold your teddy bear? Why would he do something like that?"

She shrugged, "Best not to question Ash's stupidity...I got hambo back anyway, thanks to peebles."

"Hambo's your bears name? Do you still have him?"

"No, I-I kinda had to give him up to help someone...I miss him, But I don't regret it..." She finished the last of her food, " So...cookies?"

Baking was bubba's favorite activity, back home, the kitchen was practically his man-cave. Always in there, making treats for all his friends and citizens, it was fun, and the treats were always so delicious .

He only hoped Marceline felt the same way about it.

"Well lets go shall we? Do you have some aprons and mitts?" He stood up and dragged her out of her chair. Marceline dug around her kitchen and found some supplies as well as a couple aprons and some mitts. She'd never used them before, not being much of a cook, but now was a good time as any to try them out. She put hers on right away and tied her hair up, bubba, on the other hand, was getting supplies out in a hurry that his apron was barely on.

"Uh, er Marceline, could you please tie the back of the apron for me?" He said awkwardly, trying to take a rather large bowl out. She shrugged, "Y'know...it would help if you held still for awhile...", she soon successfully tied the knot and watched him as he gave her instructions. Unfortunately, flour spilt into her hair, she grunted. "Ugh, bubba this stupid stuff is all over me!"

He smiled, "it's okay, here...let me help you out there...". He continued to place the rest of the ingredients in the bowl, he then let Marceline mix it all up, he got out an tray and prepared the oven. Soon the cookies were in the oven and Marceline was taking a shower to get all the flour and sugar out of her hair. Bubba patiently waited for her, desperately trying to make himself comfortable on her couch.

Her dog jumped up and sat on his lap, He patted his soft head. "How you doing boy?" He said softly, "You master is busy right now...we made treats...". He leaned back, He missed home, he missed having his friends company. He could only imagine their faces if they met Marceline, Marshall and her would definitely be the best of friends, and fionna would probably see her as really cool.

He closed his eyes, and he probably would've fell asleep if Marceline hadn't come in just now. She was wearing a robe and her hair was in a towel, "Yo bubs..." She mumbled as she floated in, not looking at bubba. "So...cookies done yet?" No response, she turned around to look at bubba, he wasn't saying anything. "Uhhhhh...you okay?"

"Uh...y-you..." He stuttered.

She gave him a look, "Oh relax bubba, I'm covered...so food?". Schwabl leaped down as the prince stood up, "Uh yeah...sorry...", he awkwardly made his way to the kitchen, I guess I just blanked...". She shook her head, "Bubba your fine, if were gonna be roommates you need to relax...".

Bubba looked at the timer, "Sorry, I-I've never had a roommate before...so I'm not used to this kinda stuff..."

"Bubba, listen to me, your in my house, I'll dress how I feel...don't freak out..."

"Sorry sorry, moving on..." He looked at the oven, "They'll be done in a few minutes..."

"Good..."

The two sat there, waiting in silence for the cookies, you could practically hear a pin drop.

Marceline crossed her arms, "So, you wanna watch a movie after they come out?". Lost in thought, he hadn't heard her the first time, "Er what?"

"Come on bubba, you gotta have watched movies with your friends back home..."

"I- Well of course I have!" He argued, "We loved having movie nights with each other! We'd watch stuff, and eat snacks, and tell funny stories..." He stopped talking, wondering if he'd even get to have an event like that again with his friends. "We had a blast with each other...just hanging out with them was a great feeling...". His tone was becoming sad, " So yeah...we could watch a movie together...if you want..."

A bell dinged, he put on the its and carefully took the cookies out of the oven. "We better let them cool off a little bit first, although, chocolate chip cookies are really good when their still a little warm...". He placed the tray on the stove and took off his mitts, "So, I'll get myself all cleaned up, and we can watch the movie I guess...". His sad tone was easily noticeable, "I'll be right back, pick any movie you want..."

"Hey gumball?" She asked, he'd been making his way upstairs when she called out, he stopped. "Yeah?"

"Everything's gonna be fine..."

"I know..." He said, in a not so convinced voice.

After he'd gone upstairs, Marceline took a look through all the movies she owned, she desperately hoped one of them would be good enough. She was worried about him sometimes, he would be fine one moment, and then the next he'd be sitting by himself and moping around. Not that she blamed him for his actions, she couldn't imagine herself being torn apart from her own friends and her home.

She took a look through the movies to find something bubba would enjoy, "Aha!" She exclaimed, "This one outta work..."

Bubba was down soon enough later, Marceline had eaten a fair amount of the cookies, he shook his head. "Well, you certainty enjoyed them." Then he took one for himself and took a bite, "Good stuff...better make sure it doesn't ruin my new PJ's..."

Her was wearing matching pjs, light blue, and his feet were bare for tonight. "If you're dry Marcy you can go change into some PJ's for tonight...not that your robe isn't nice but..."

She snickered, "Alright bubs, if it bothers you so much...I'll go change...but your gonna pay for it...". She floated upstairs and change into dark shorts that showed off the majority of her legs and a similar colored spaghetti stringed top that showed off her belly button, Her hair was out and everywhere. When she got downstairs bubba pouted, "Better?" She teased.

"Sure..." He said, at least he knew she was covered. He held the movie in his hands, "Heat Signature? Isn't this a horror movie?" He didn't feel like watching a horror movie, like the horrors of being trapped in the woods weren't enough for him.

"Sure dude...my bud Finn got me this movie _**ages**_ ago...we should watch it together..." She smirked, "Unless your too _**scared**_..."

The prince's eyebrows narrowed, "I-I'm not scared...I-I jus-"

"Your totally scared dude, don't worry, I'll protect you..." She teased him with her full might, enjoying the pout on his face. "Put it in..." He said, "We'll see who gets scared..."

She grinned.

With blankets, cookies, and milk, the two sat on the floor, watching the movie.

Marceline was very intensely watching the movie, mouthing the words as if she'd watched it a thousand times, and she probably had. Bubba glanced over at her, she was having a nice time, this almost felt like a sleepover, but it wasn't. They were both sitting on one blanket, and another blanket covered both their legs, the cookies in between them. Bubba reached over to take a cookie and felt something else.

Something soft.

"Uh...bubba...do you mind?"

He looked down realizing he grabbed her hand, she'd been trying to take a cookie as well. He let go immediately, he felt his cheeks grow red, she turned his face away from her. "I-I'm sorry..." He mumbled.

She snickered, "Relax bubba...I know it was an accident...you accidently took my hand, it's not like you kissed me or anything...". His face was red and she was enjoying his embarrassment a little too much. She tapped his shoulder, "Hey, c'mon...look at me...I'm not gonna go all vampire on you."

He carefully faced her, she was smiling playfully. "s-sorry..." He mumbled, "I-I just thought..."

"Don't think, your just fine...now concentrate, we're gonna miss the best part!" She turned back towards the movie, and without warning, pulled on gumball's shirt, facing him towards the movie. Gumball himself wasn't quite sure what was going on in this film, he was yet to be scared and he didn't know what to make of it yet. And Marceline wasn't making things better, she was constantly making scary faces at him throughout the movie and driving him nuts.

At one point she got him and he jumped, hiding under the blanket.

She laughed

-

Bubba tried to keep his eyes open, it had become so difficult, he wondered what time it was.

He had the feeling the movie had ended awhile ago, because the tv was now dark. He sat up, he must have fallen asleep on the floor, and by the looks of it, Marceline did the exact same thing. She looked so peaceful, her hair was everywhere, and she was making small snoring noises. He smiled, it was kinda cute, he wondered if he should wake her up or maybe carry her to bed. But then a knock came on the door.

 ** _KNOCK KNOCK_**

Marceline turned slightly, but she was still fast asleep. Bubba stood up and crept quietly to the door, he looked out the window to see who it was. At first his heart lit up, "Fionna? Cake?", but then he realized the people at the door were guys. He opened the door to reveal a boy and a dog, both waiting patiently. He was gonna spend time thinking of how much they looked the adventuresses in HIS land, but he had dealt with his way too many times and he didn't feel like wrapping his mind around this right now.

"Hello?" He said.

"Hey? Is marcy here?" The boy asked.

"She's asleep..."

"Are you the prince dude she told us about?" The dog asked, " We're Finn and Jake, Marcy sent us out to find your home."

Gumballs eyes lit up, "Did you find anything?"

"No...sorry man..." They both were disappointed themselves for failing, they had spent a good amount of time at every nearby kingdom, looking for anyone who'd even heard of this 'prince' character. Some or the princesses said he sounded familiar, but no one had confirmed he was a citizen of their kingdom.

Gumball's disappointment was shown clearly on his face. "Oh...well, thank you for telling me, I'll make sure to tell Marceline when she wakes up..."

"Hey uh wait...you know, you have a very similar name to one of IK's story characters..." Finn piped up, "He had this character named prince gumball who ruled the candy kingdom and stuff..."

The prince's eyebrows raised, "Well...maybe he does, but that's just a story, my home is real..."

"Sorry, it's just...I thought maybe...y'know? You and ice king might know each other or something?"

"No...I don't.."

"Well alright then, uh, tell Marcy we said bye!"

They waved goodbye and bubba closed the door behind them, he let out another sigh of disappointment. Once again, he had some hope and it was gone in a flash, he didn't know what to try next, or rather, what Marceline would try next. This was two attempts of hers gone done the drain, he wondered how she'd feel when he tell her about the news. Upset? Well, yeah, she probably would be upset that her attempts were dropping like flies.

Speaking of the vampire queen, Marceline was sleeping peacefully on the floor. He didn't want to disturb her, yet, this spot on the floor was were he slept overnight. After some silent debate, the prince decided it was best not to move her. He moved some blankets and a pillow and made his own arrangements next to the vampire queen, he got all cozy under the blankets, and peacefully closed his eyes.

He was having wonderful dreams, he was back home, drinking tea and eating baked goods with his friends. Fionna was chowing down on a pastry and disusing her latest fight with a three headed monster. Marshall was lazily floating around, humming to himself and thinking of the next prank he should try out on bubba. This was a peaceful moment, it was so beautiful, and it felt so real.

He desperately wished it was real.

"Please don't go..." He mumbled to them, feeling as if he was about to cry.

And when the world around him began to fade, he felt a sense of panic.

"Please, I'm sorry! Just don't go..."

-

Marceline awoke to the sound of mumbled and whimpers next to her, she opened one heavy eyelid to see bubba laying down next to her. Her eyes widened, and then she realized they both must've passed out watching the movie, she sat up, trying to wake herself up. She was surprised, bubba seemed more like an early bird, getting up as early in the morning as he could. But today, he was sleeping in. She could hear him talking in his sleep.

She didn't want to wake him, but he seemed so sad and scared. Perhaps he was having a nightmare?

She shook his shoulders gently, "Hey gumbutt...rise and shine..." She said softly, "It's another day..."

it took much coaxing to wake the prince up, he was being so stubborn and so goofy. When he opened one eyed, he mumbled something. "I was having a great dream..." He said, "My friends were with me and I was back home with them again...". He felt tears run down his cheeks, "Your friends came last night...they didn't find my home..."

Marceline just sat there.

"I-I'm sorry...do you need something to eat?" She suggested, he was in a mood, and she needed to find him a way out of it. No answer came from the prince, so the vampire decided to take matters into her own hands. She stood up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, then she went into the kitchen and peeked inside the fridge, she pulled out some orange juice and a couple of apples.

She also heated up some pastries, she wasn't a very good cook, but these would have to do.

She tried to get the prince to move but with no avail, so she picked him up by his arms and dragged him out of his blankets. He kicked in irritation, "Just leave me alone...", she sat him at the kitchen table and presented him with the food.

"Eat..." She said, but it was more of a demand. "You'll feel better after you put something in your stomach..."

He reluctantly took a bite of strawberry pastry, chewing slowly, he was so homesick. He couldn't think straight anymore, he only hoped that by some miracle this world would turn out to be some kind of dream. Marceline was looking at him with concern and it was beginning to bother him, "What?" He asked, uncharacteristically rude, "What's the problem?. She sighed, "Bubba...your freaking me out...please relax..."

"How can I relax?!" He asked, "I'm lost, my kingdom hasn't me to rule them, my friends don't care about me..." His lip quivered a little, "I'm never gonna get home will I? I-I'll just be trapped here for the rest of my entire life...".

Marceline turned her head away from him, "I didn't know being here with me was such a problem..."

Gumball felt immediate guilt right away, "I-I didn't mean..."

"Yeah...whatever..."

"Oh god Marceline, I'm so sorry...I just-" He didn't know what to say, "I-I'm so miserable Marceline...I want to be happy here, I really do...but all I can think about is-"

"Home..." She answered.

"Marceline...I-I'm sorry, I never should've said that..."

"It's not the first time someone refereed to me as a problem..." She said softly, "I-I live alone for a reason y'know? Because nobody wants to live here with me do they? nah, I'm better off alone...". She took her apple, "PB wanted me to let you stay here with me so I could have a friend, so I didn't isolate myself from people...". She took a bite, "But if you don't wanna stay here, I guess you could always..."

"No..." He said, "I wanna stay here...and I'll do anything I have to earn your forgiveness from my harshness towards you..."

"Bubba, you don't have to-"

"Yeah I do...no more tears.." He wiped his eyes, "I'm not gonna let my emotions do that again, I'm gonna tough it out, and find a way home, with you."

He took her hand, "I'm so sorry...about everything...but you are my only friend out here and I'm sure as heck not gonna lose you to my own stupidity..."

He kissed her hand in apology, "Forgive me..."

She wanted to yank it away from him, but she didn't want him to feel any worse than he already was. Instead, she used her other hand to lift up is face to look at her, "Hey...congrats, you've earned my forgiveness." She gave him a small smile, "Just try to relax alright? It wont be easy, but panicking about it all isn't gonna fix anything...''

She carefully removed her head from his, "I've been in a similar boat...had no home, had nobody...but guess what? I'm still here...". She reached over and patted his head, "C'mon dude...where's that prince strength? Smile..."

He didn't smile though, "I had fun last night...I haven't had fun like that in awhile..."

"Awwww" She teased, "Maybe we can do that again soon...y'know, and actually make it through the movie?"

"Yeah...I think I'd like that..."

"Now can we enjoy this wonderful morning roomie? Enjoy the day? Maybe make some tea? Have a nice normal day without tears?".

He managed the smallest smile he could muster.

"Sure...I-I think I could use that as well..."


	4. Are We Friends?

**Ideas for chapter by AmySaraii on deviantart, Thanks Gal!**

* * *

"So Marcy..."

"Yes?"

"Tell me...how long have I been here?"

She checked her calendar, "You've been here a week bubby...I guess times flies fast..."

"I hope my kingdom is out looking for me...I hope they don't think I'm dead or something..."

Gumball was sitting in the kitchen, reading a book Marceline had given him, he stared at the page, not even truly reading it. A Week huh? It's been a week since he was separated from his home and trapped out here. It didn't feel like a week, he felt like he was out her in a much shorter amount of time. Time must've flown by so fast being here, Marceline made it fun, most of the time, and he spent a good amount of time trying to get things done around her home.

He had been much calmer lately, smiling more often and relaxing around the house, but that might have only happened just so Marceline wouldn't worry about him. He had hope that his kingdom was out looking for him, that soon they'd find him. He wasn't going to doubt his friends anymore, they were going to find him, and he knew it. Part of him was thinking about what Finn had said that one night.

A character named prince gumball, who rules a candy kingdom? It was too weird, the only reason he hadn't mentioned it to Marceline was because he thought she'd think he was crazy. He almost wanted to meet this 'ice king' to ask him some questions, but it sounded too ridiculous. But then again...

"They got to be worried about you bubba, your their leader...I'm sure any day now they'll be here to get you back home." The taste in her mouth felt bitter, she felt as if she were lying to him. Having him here put her on edge, she didn't want him to freak out about anything else, but he was tense, very tense. Everything reminded him too much of home, he talked about it all so often, how her home resembled Marshall's, how her friend's resembled his own.

She knew he was deeply homesick, but his homesickness was starting to get on her nerves. He never stopped talking about it, and since she was unsure if his home was real or not, she didn't really know what to say to him. Everything reminded of him of his home, and because of that, everything made him feel upset. She had to be careful with her word choice, and she had to be careful with what they did together.

He was getting better, he wasn't as upset as he used to be, but she could tell he was very sad. He spent much time working on her house, cleaning it, gardening, she felt like he was doing it to get his mind off of everything. She had been keeping her distance during those moments, not wanting to disturb his thoughts. She almost wondered what would happen if no one ever came for him, would he be stuck with her forever?

Bubba looked up from his reading, " I hope they come soon..."

"I hope so too..."

Marceline went into the living room, bubba had done much work with it, everything smelt fresh and soft (Except for her couch). It felt homey, well, more homey than usual. The upstairs was quite nice as well, he'd made her bed and vacuumed, as well as clean up her dirty laundry, Everything was so...tidy...

She wasn't sure whether to be thankful or upset...

At least having bubba here had some benefits, he made good food, he was helpful and friendly. But even _**he**_ had flaws, everything worried him, and everything made him feel emotional.

She wished he could just be okay, even for a little bit, he smiled around her but she could tell he was dying on the inside. His worry only made her worry, and her worry only made her feel worse and worse about having him here. She wondered if maybe she should just let him stay with bonnibel, being here with her only made him feel more miserable. At least at her kingdom he'd live under better conditions. 

She noticed him squinting at the book, he hadn't turned the page.

"Uh...bubba? You need any help reading that one page? I mean, don't tell me you never learned how to read..."

Bubba faced her, offended. "I CAN read, thank you very much...it's just...I have reading glasses an-"

Her shoulders sagged, "They're at your home aren't they?"

"Yeah...it's hard for me to read without them..." He sighed, "Perhaps I can find some new ones out here..."

He put the book down, he was bored, very bored. He didn't know what to do right now and it was driving him mad, he looked at Marceline with puppy dog eyes, asking for her to help him out. She playfully frowned at him, "Ugh...your so weird...".

And he was indeed, the strangest person she'd ever met.

She floated into a sitting position and leaned back, deciding to take a short nap to pass the time. Bubba wasn't fond of her doing so, he stood up and tapped her on the shoulder, "Marceline, I'm sorry but...I don't know what to do..."

She grumbled, "I cant entertain you all the time bubba...find something..."

"Marceline...please...I need to do something..."

She let out another loud groan in protest, "Fine, but you owe me..."

Her feet touched the ground, "So what do you want to do?", Bubba shrugged, "How about we just...talk?"

"Just...talk?"

"Yeah...I mean, I've been here a week and I really don't know too much about you...we should just...get to know each other a little better...", He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. She was upset with him, and he knew it, but he didn't know what to do. He had very limited options around here, Marceline was his biggest source of entertainment, considering just how fun she was.

And she was the only person he could talk to.

Bubba sat on the floor and Marceline crossed her legs in mid-air, a sitting position. "So...? If you have anything to say...you better spit it out.."

He gulped, "Well...why do you live out here? Alone I mean...you seem to have some pretty cool friends..."

She snorted, "This cave protects me from the sun...besides...I like it."

He shuffled his feet, "But why alone?"

"Why not? We can't all be like you...hanging out with everybody and having fun all the time..."

He sighed, "Not always...sometimes I prefer to be alone myself...I'm very pressured y'know? I've even locked myself in my room alone just to keep my servants from getting in and making me do more work...". He chuckled, " They all get so mad at me...but sometimes I need a little space..."

Her eyebrows raised at the mention of this, "Do you have any parents...?"

"No..." He answered, "it's just me...what about you?"

She bit her lip, "I have a dad...but I don't like talking about him much..."

"A mom?"

"I don't remember much about her..."

The air in the room grew tense.

"I'm sorry..." Bubba said, "I didn't know..."

"It's fine...whatever..." She crossed her arms, "I prefer to live alone, my dad isn't really the best...besides..I'm my own woman."

"Fair enough...it's pretty peaceful out here...more peaceful than at my home..." He recalled memories of home when he'd constantly be interrupted by sudden meeting and dangerous encounters. At least out here he could sleep to the sounds of nature, with no worry or suddenly being woke up in the middle of the night because cinnamon bun got stuck in the nearest doorway or something. He could for once, sleep peacefully.

"Well, yeah...I guess it's kind of quiet...sorta..." The vampire queen really didn't know what to say, this conversation was getting to be very dull and she hoped he would give up soon and let her go back to her slumber.

"You sing beautifully, I forgot to tell you earlier..." He said, Marceline would sing in her spare time a lot. And a few nights he spent here, he could hear her singing upstairs, her voice drifted him off to sleep.

She was taken aback by this compliment, "Really? I mean...you think so?"

"Yeah...I mean, I've sung a little myself...but I don't think I've had as much experience as you do..."

"You sing?" She asked surprised.

"Yeah...sometimes..."

"Are you good?" She asked, excitedly, Finally, this conversation was getting interesting.

"Well...I don't know..."

"Well, you wont KNOW, unless you try..." She took his hand, "C'mon princey...lets hear you sing..". She dragged him upstairs and sat him down on her bed, then she dug through her closet till she found what she was looking for.

"AHA!" She said, she pulled out a microphone.

"Wait...we don't really need a mic to hear me sing do we?" Gumball asked nervously, his lower lip twitching.

"Well...no...but it'll sound a little better this way."

She handed him the microphone, and plugged it up to her nearest amp.

"Alright, she me what you got pinky..." She crossed her arms and waited. But Gumball didn't move, she just stared at the microphone in a sad gaze, "I-I cant do it...". She raised an eyebrow, "Why not?". He mumbled, "I-just cant...you'll laugh...", he didn't have any faith in himself at this point.

"Oh c'mon dude, if you can sing, than sing...I'm not gonna laugh..."

"Promise?"

"Promise..."

He held the microphone to his lips, and he nervously sung a few sentences...

" _la da da da, i'm gonna bury you in the ground~ La da da da da, I'm gonna bury you with my sound..."_ He was trying to sing one of Marshall's songs, and he was worried as he did so. But it seemed as if Marceline was very interested in his song, a little too interested.

Marceline's first thought was that he was fairly good at singing, his voice was rather gentle, but it made such sweet sounds, He was harmonious. But her second thought was clear, that was _**HER**_ song, and he was singing it. He face faded from excitement and fascination to a scowl.

Bubba noticed he face and immediately stopped, "Am i- am i really that bad...?"

"No..." She grunted, "Your fairly good for someone who's been looking at my songs..."

"What?" He said, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that's MY song you were just singing, how else could you have heard about it unless you'd been sneaking through my stuff...?!"

Bubba gulped, she was very angry, he could even swear her eyes had turned redder than normal. "I-i'm sorry i just- Marshall wrote that song and i was-" He was frantically trying to stay clam.

" _ **Marshall**_ wrote this song?" She asked. "How would that even be _**possible**_?"

"I-i don't know..." He mumbled, "I-I just.."

"Listen, that song is _**private**_! Don't be going through my stuff and blaming it on your stupid friend!" She growled.

"I-i didn't know, i swear!" He said, "I never would go through your stuff!"

"Liar..." she growled, "Go back and talk to your precious Marshall! After all, he's all you ever talk about!""

"Because he's one of my Best friends Marceline! And you remind me of him sometimes..."

This only seemed to make her angrier.

"So i'm just your guy friend?! Wow...thanks bubba..."

He was panicking, "N-no Marcy, that's not what i meant! It's just..."

"it's just what bubba? because you don't HAVE to stay with me y'know? If you wanna be with your friends than why don't you just go out and find them?". In the back of her mind she was telling herself to stop, she was hurting him yet again, and out of anger. He looked downright upset himself and she was trying to calm down , but her attempts weren't working, she could feel tears coming on. Bubba mouth was open, but he wasn't saying anything.

She hugged her arms, "Leave...", her head was hung. Her hair was covering her face like a veil, her shoulders sagged, bubba tensed.

She seemed as if she was crying, and that's probably what she was doing.

Bubba stood up, he wanted to hug her, but he couldn't move. He was just kinda...frozen.

"leave..." She mumbled through cries. "Your not living here anymore..."

Bubba didn't say anything, he just stood there.

The vampire didn't move herself, but she could tell he wasn't leaving, she lifted her head up to reveal her saddened face. She just looked at him, tears flowing down her pale face, and hair a mess. She was trying hr hardest to keep her natural punk attitude and not look like such a wimp in front of him but this wasn't helping at all. She wasn't thinking properly anymore, and in a fit of rage her face transformed into a hideous monster's.

"LEAVE!" She growled, "Just get you stuff and get out of my house!"

"B-but..."

"NOW!" She screamed in a vicious rage, he didn't hesitate to head down the ladder. Her shoulders sagged once again, she couldn't believe she just said that to him, she promised to take care of him and to help him till he got home.

And she just kicked him out onto the street.

She gulped, immediately regretting her words.

She went downstairs, "Wait bubba...i-", But he wasn't there, Nor was any of his stuff. He was gone, she wanted to go out and search for him, but she suddenly lost the courage to do so. She leaned against the door, sinking the floor, crying.

Wasn't this what she wanted? Him to leave?

No...no it wasn't...

"I-i'm sorry bubba..." She mumbled to herself.

-

Bubba himself was perched outside the entrance to the candy kingdom, carrying his bags. He didn't know where else to go, this would have to do for now, the princess seemed kind enough. Hopefully she would show him enough kindness to give him a place to stay for the night.

He was still upset over marceline, he desperately wanted to go back and apologize to her, but she probably didn't want to see him right now, or ever. He missed her already, but there was nothing he could do anymore.

He stood at the gates, when the opened and the pink princess stepped out.

"Come in..." She said, "I'll have a room ready for you...

"Thank you..." He said gently.

-

The next few days were bittersweet. Bubba sat in his new room, bonnibel had given him new reading glasses and he was taking advantage of her library by reading some books he picked out. He read silently, birds chirped outside and he could hear many candy people running through the halls. He sighed, he'd been staring at the same paragraph for what felt like an hour.

Life here reminded him so much of home, the food, the people, the familiar smell of sugar.

He felt so much comfort out here...

Bonnie only promised to take care of him for a short while, after cursing marceline under her breath.

He put the book down, he couldn't focus, there was only one thing on his mind right now, and it didn't have to do with Marshall, Fionna, or his kingdom.

It was marceline.

He wanted to go back and talk to her, see her again, but he didn't have to courage too. Maybe here he had everything he had before, but he wanted to speak to her again, bonnibel wasn't much company. He even considered trying to call her, or maybe just dropping by her house to say ' hi'.

He sat on his bed and laid back, he was still not completely sure what he had done wrong to have offended her in such a way, but the least he could do was apologize for whatever it was.

He'd been thinking about her nonstop, her presence was missed.

Today he was wearing one of his new jackets, and one of the shirts she had given to him, he remembered her kindness, putting a smile on his face. He hadn't even really left his room since he'd been here as well, food was brought up to him, he had a bathroom, and he didn't really have anywhere to go anyway. Marceline and him could've went out and did something fun together today, instead of him lounging around all sad.

She was his only friend right now, and this made that clear.

He closed his eyes for another nap, making few noises and trying to relax.

"I'm sorry marceline..." He whispered to no one.

Marceline's last few days weren't even different from his, she hadn't left her home, nor had she the courage to go out and find him. Her last days were silent, yes, she would strum the bass sometimes but otherwise her home was missing her laughter and troublesome antics. She was moody, well, more moody than usual. She refused to talk to anyone right now, and was completely fine being alone.

Or at least that's what she'd been telling herself.

She was a mess, hair in knots, clothes mismatched and smelly, and she wasn't her natural self anymore. She wouldn't admit it, but the absence of the pink prince was bothering her, perhaps because of guilt for throwing him out, or maybe from the fact that she promised to help him, or maybe she actually cared about him. Either way, she felt a sickness in herself since he left and it was slowly killing her.

She wanted to go find him, bring him back, but he probably didn't even want to talk to her anyway.

The pit of worries only grew though, what if he was captured? Hurt? Dead?

And all because of her too...

She sat on her bed, holding his crown, he had forgotten to take it with him when he left. She tossed and turned the shiny object in her hands, it was small, perhaps his gummy hair was the reason it even stayed in his hair?

She huffed.

"Your ruining me y'know?" She said to it, "I'm a stupid miserable wreck because of you...". She stood up and wandered into the bathroom, standing in front of the mirror, not that she could see herself in it. She slowly placed the crown on top her head, "I bet i look ridiculous in this thing...", she said, grinning to herself.

Even when he wasn't here he was making her smile.

She took it off and placed it on the sink, she quickly washed her face. "Ugh...i smell horrible..." She said, "Maybe i could bathe and pay bonnibel a visit...". She stretched out and started the water.

She came out of the bathroom 30 minutes later, blow drying her long dark hair, she put it into a braid and changed into some clean clothes. Feeling better, she went downstairs and out the door, grabbing her umbrella on the way out.

Bonnibel's castle was quite busy, citizens everywhere, running about, ignoring the queen.

"BONNIBEL!" She called out for her friend, she wandered everywhere. She wasn't in her lab, so she checked out the next best place, the library.

She floated inside, crossing her arms, there was no sign of her. But then she saw a flash of pink and followed, "Bonnie hey!" she called out.

But she stopped.

"Bubba?"

He turned to look at her, "Oh hey Marcy..." He said softly, "I-if your looking for Bonnie...I think she's visiting the flame kingdom...". He shuffled his feet awkwardly, now looking at the floor, he hadn't expected her to be here. He didn't know what to say.

"Bonnie took you in?" She asked, watching his face curiously.

"Yeah...she's kinda angry with you..."

"For kicking you out?"

"Yeah..."

"She's always angry at me for something it seems..." She said, shrugging, "It's normal between us..."

"You guys have fought before?" he said softly, the idea of them fighting brought back memories of him and Marshall lee, friends who fought. In his case it was because Marshall picked on him and hurt him, he wondered silently what had happened between the girls to make things so odd between them. It must of been pretty serious, because the vampire was currently frowning and looking away.

"Fighting happens I guess, even between the best of friends..."

He thought of fionna and marshall, "Yeah...I suppose it does..."

"Did you fight with your friends alot?" She asked.

"Sometimes..."

"I'm sorry..."

"It's nothing you can help..."

"I know...it's just-"

"don't worry about it all, it's in the past now anyways..."

He raised his head, holding the books he had a lot closer to his chest. "It's cool here though, it reminds me alot of home..."

"Really, I-I mean that's awesome..." She said softly.

He looked her over, her hair looked soft and shiny, and she smelled nice."You look wonderful today..." He said with a small smile, "I like your ears..."

She stiffened at his compliment, "Well thanks...I guess...I see your wearing my shirt..."

He looked down, blushing, "Oh...yeah...I think it kinda looks good on me y'know?"

She looked him over, "Yeah, you look great..."

The two just stood there awkwardly, bubba clinging onto his book and marceline hugging her arms. Both not currently sure what to say to the other, bubba looked her over, she seemed sad. He wanted to hug her but he was worried about upsetting her, "Hey...are you alright?" He asked gently.

"Listen bubba..." She said, "I'm sorry about what I said to you, when I kicked you out. That song...it's kinda personal to me and I guess I just kinda freaked out...". She walked closer to him, She blew some hair out of her face. "I was gonna try to stop you...but i was too late...i don't blame you if your still angry with me...". She hugged herself a little tigher, gilt washing over her face.

He smiled, "It's okay, i'm sorry about it happening...I missed you..."

She smiled, "Yeah, I guess I kinda missed you too...been kind lame without you...". She scratched the back of her head, "But i'm glad your having fun here...my place isn't exactly the kind of place a prince would normally stay at..."

"True" he said, He looked right at her, into her sad eyes, " But if you'll allow me back...I would have even more fun..."

Her eyes widened in surprise, he was giving her a smug little grin and she didn't know what to say next to him.

"Y-you wanna come back?" She asked, her face still in utter surprise. He put the books down and took her hand, "Yeah, i'd like to come back, I mean things here may be nice, but I think it hurts more being here without a friend. Aren't we friends?" He asked, " I mean, we don't have to be...but your the only one I feel comfortable talking to out here..."

She reached up and playfully ruffled his hair, the gooey strands felt soft and sticky on her hands and between her fingers, she chuckled. "Sure dude, we're friends...I'm sorry for the rough time...you sure you'd rather live with me after that?"

"Friends fight Marcy, you said so yourself...i'll forgive you if you'll forgive me..." He said silently, his eyes almost begging her.

She scratched her cheek, "Well...if your really sure and stuff...but beware, i'm evil, remember?"

"Yeah i know..."

He hugged her, "Thank you Marcy...lets just never let this happen again alright?"

She hugged him back, "Sure..."

They hugged for a good amount of time, not even noticing just how many people in the library were looking at them.

She patted him on the back, "You sing really well...I didn't get a chance to tell you..."

"You really think so?" Bubba said.

"Yeah..." She released him, "When we get back, would you like to sing...with me?"

"With... you?"

"Yeah..."

"That sounds really nice..."

She ruffled his hair one last time, "Go pack up your things bud, we're going home..."

* * *

 **Hey guys ! Sorry for the wait! I was really busy and had a hard time being able to write.**

 **Also, some of you may have seen this chapter before, i hadn't noticed that it had looked like that, and i'm deeply sorry about that.**

 **I really can't explain what that was...**

 **Anyway, keep sending me ideas for future chapters! i really appreciate it!**


	5. It's Not A Date

Marceline yawned, stretching her arms.

She sat up on the bed, tasting the bitter air and letting out another yawn. Morning, her least favorite part of any day, she wanted to keep sleeping but one of her new daily activities was to wake up her roommate and make breakfast. Which meant she couldn't sleep in as much as she wanted to.

She blew hair out of her face, like normal it was everywhere on her bead, tangled as usual.

She reluctantly stood up and washed her face in her bathroom before heading downstairs. Bubba was sleeping on the floor, blankets surrounding him and his head resting on a pillow. He was peaceful as he slept, he didn't snore, so he was very quiet except for his soft breathing. Marceline looked at him, she didn't want to disturb him, it was nice to have him be so calm and relaxed, she didn't want to bring him back to the harshness of this world.

She'd only accepted him back in as her roommate yesterday, and she'd never seen him so delighted.

And his face proved it, he was smiling in his sleep, she wondered if he was having nice dreams. If he was, than she was glad he was having something pleasant to think about, she had the feeling he'd been having alot of nightmares before.

She keeled down next to him, not sure how to wake him up. But then he suddenly moved in his sleep, face twitching, and his arm reached out to her slightly. She smirked, wondering if he even knew she was there.

She stood up, deciding that maybe it was best she let him sleep for now.

Walking into the kitchen, she scavenged through her fridge, finding some fruits that her and bubba could probably snack on for breakfast. They didn't need anything special to eat this morning, so she washed off some strawberries and put them in a bowl.

Then she went up and got herself dressed, she put on a rock shirt, ripped jeans, and boots. She then put her hair in a ponytail, by the time she made it downstairs bubba was already awake. He was rubbing his eyes, but he brightened when he saw her.

"Marceline, good morning!" He said, "you look nice".

"Thanks bubba, sleep well?"

"Better than normal, better dreams..."

"How bad were your dreams before?"

"Just...bad..." He mumbled, "So...breakfast?"

"There's strawberries in the kitchen..." She said, nodding towards it. "Their clean...we can snack on them...". They both walked into the kitchen and sat down on opposite sides, they ate in silence.

"So what are we doing today?" Bubba asked, curiously. "Is there anything interesting going on? today?"

"Y'know, sometimes i feel like you don't WANT to go home..." Marceline joked.

"I do, but I have more hope that my friends will find me...if i'm gonna be stuck here, I better enjoy it."

"At least your feeling better...although i'm sure bonnibel's guest rooms are more comfortable than my floor..." She said, " Maybe I outta replace that couch for you..."

"That would be nice...yes..." He took a strawberry and plucked it into his mouth, "Maybe we could do that later...". Marceline drank the red from each and every strawberry, and bubba was munching on the grey ones, a meal for two.

"Eh...i'm not enthusiastic about furniture shopping..." She shrugged, "I haven't shopped for new furniture myself in forever."

"Really?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, we gotta do it sometime..."

"I know, but still..."

They finished eating, bubba cleaned up and marceline watched. " I was thinking maybe we could just take a walk, y'know, hang out as friends...?". She wanted to make up for kicking him out before, a nice day out together was her idea of how to do it.

"Really?" Bubba asked, "Hang out? Well...sure why not?" he smiled at the idea of them hanging out together. "I guess I could use a day out, exploring your familiar world."

"Then you better get dressed pinky, we've got a fun day to start." Her toothy grin was easily visible, she was pretty excited herself, not even finn had enough time to spend a whole day hanging out with her. But with bubba, she had someone to hang out with her all the time, they could do anything together. They could mess around with each other, goof off, and explore, and she had to admit she was actually excited to have bubba along with her.

He wasn't a total adventurer like Finn, but everything fascinated him, and she was excited to show him around. They could do so many things together, things she could never convince bonnie to have done with her before.

Bubba went up to get dressed and marceline patiently waited, when he got down he helped her put on gloves and her sunhat.

"Shall we go?" He asked.

She grinned and dragged him outside, floating upwards, she help him by his waist and made her way out. " hold on tight bubba...", she snickered.

Bubba had his eyes open during this flight, admiring the view. "Do you always see things like this?" he asked, patiently. She shrugged, "Well, yeah...i kinda fly all the time...why do you ask?". He shrugged as well, " I don't know, it's just really nice up here...", he felt more comfortable flying with her then he did before, the wind blowing against his face and the fresh air was making him feel better.

He almost felt as if he was flying.

Soon his feet touched solid ground, he was in the candy kingdom, marceline followed suite. He looked at her in question, "So what are we doing?, he looked around the kingdom, he was only here yesterday and wasn't sure what she wanted to be back for. She grinned, "I wanted to chat with bon real quick, then I though maybe we could go get some ice cream later, and if you want- we could see a movie tonight..."

"Heh...that kinda sounds like fun...", he followed after her as she went into the castle. Luckily bonnie was easy to find today, in her lab, studying what appeared to be a blood sample.

"Yo bon!" Marceline called out, she went behind her and stole her goggles, gaining her attention. "HEY!" she called out, trying to get them back from her floating friend, she saw bubba in the door way and stopped her actions.

She just stared at him, in fascination, making bubba uncomfortable.

"Well, i see you took him back again mercy...i almost thought he left..." She said.

"Yeah...we made up and everything, so he's still gonna stick with me till i find his home..." She crossed her arms, defensively. She was expecting pb to outburst at her for kicking bubba out.

But for once she held her tongue.

"Marceline, is it okay if i can talk to you in private?..." She asked, "your friend can wait outside..."

"Peebles, if your gonna lecture me about kicking bubba out than you can do it in front of us..."

"No...no, it's not that..."

"It's okay, i can leave.." Bubba said, "I won't be far alright?" He assured marceline one more time and backed out of the lab, closing the door behind him. Marceline watched him leave, ugh, why did he have to be so polite? If she was being kicked out of a conversation she wouldn't take such a thing NEARLY as well. She turned towards her friend with a frown and groaned. "Ugh bonnie...what is it?"

"Marcy, I've been doing some blood tests on your friend..."

"So?" She said, uninterested.

"They match mine..." She said quietly, "Marcy, something is up with him...he's made of gum like me, claims to have a kingdom like mine, has the same dna...i just don't understand..."

"So?" Marceline said again, "I don't know, maybe he's like a clone of you or something...does it really matter?"

" ** _Yes_** it **_does_** marceline... something about him is weird and I need to find out exactly what it is..."

"His name sounds familiar to me." The vampire thought aloud, "When he first told me it, I recognized it from something, but I can't quite put my finger on it...". She almost wondered that if she could remember where she heard him from, that she could find out where he came from.

PB looked at her with more interest, "Try to find out...maybe when we know who he is a little more we can understand this whole mess..."

"Yeah, sure...whatever, we gotta leave. So i guess i'll see you later bon..." She turned around and proceeded to leave.

"Alright marce, but you be careful..." Pb said, and even though she couldn't see it, she was giving the vampire a concerned look. "Keep an eye on him..."

"So what ice cream flavor would you like? I'm getting strawberry..."

"I'll take chocolate..." Bubba answered, he and marceline were still in the candy kingdom, heading towards an ice cream shop . Marceline glanced at him the entire time, she didn't care, but bonnie did have a point. Something was off about him, he was like bonnie, and yet he wasn't bonnie. He was so much different than bonnie, he had her brain and politeness, but he wasn't as strict and was a little more lively and friendly.

She liked that about him.

But if there was something wrong with him, she planned on figuring out just what it was.

He sat down at a nearby table as she got their treats, she handed him his cone and they sat there and ate.

"So...bubba...whats your home like?" If she wanted to figure out where she knew him from, it was best she understood him home more.

"Oh, not much different than this..." He replied, "To be honest, **_exactly_** like this..."

"You said I reminded you of Marshall?" She remembered, "How come? I mean...am I really that much like him...", she bit her lip almost feeling a little down that when he saw her he thought of someone else.

Bubba shrugged, "It's nothing special, it's just that you both are musical, live in very similar houses, look similar, act similar...sometimes...your both not completely alike..."

"What do you mean?"

He leaned forward, "I mean your still different Marcy, even though you and Marshall are similar in ways, there's a difference between you too." He smiled at her, "You don't look down upon me...Marshall teased me alot, but I don't really seem to bother you too much, my habits, my clothes, even my natural color. Your smart marceline, and funny, and so kind, you've given me a chance. Even me and Marshall, as close friends as we are, bickered when we first met..."

"You make your friends sound so bad..."

"They're great people..." He said, smiling at the thought of them, "We had such great times together, movie nights, jam times, we'd have a boys night every once in awhile where we'd do all kinds of things...". He moved his hands dreamily, " Boys nights were so awesome, man, I can't wait to get back to those..."

"So wait, for boys night you and Marshall just...hang out?" She said, confused, "Not much of a party..."

"Oh no, our friend fionna also joins us, girl or not, even flame prince sometimes joins..."

Marceline's ears perked up at the mention of these names, "Fionna?"

"Yes, she's a human, she kinda saves me from the ice queen alot..."

He was becoming more like bonnie every second he kept talking, this couldn't be a coincidence. She didn't want to believe he might've been lying, but she had the feeling he wasn't lying.

He finished eating, "So...after you finish your ice cream, what next?", He looked at her ice cream, almost untouched.

She went back to eating before he thought that she might be upset, "Uh, well...maybe we could...", she looked around for suggestions.

"We could just walk?" He suggested, "Waste some time, you could take me to meet your other friends...I really hadn't got to meet them properly..."

"Alright then...I guess..." She continued to eat, she couldn't even be sure Finn and Jake were even home, they were out on adventures so often that who even knows where they were anymore. They could be out fighting mutant robots for all she knew. Although, he was right, and maybe they could shed some light on the subject, if they could.

He grinned, "Alright, after you finish your ice cream we can go..."

She finished it slowly, still thinking.

She was rather silent when they left for the tree house, and bubba watched her with a similar pout. "Is something wrong marceline? you seem kinda sad...", they were both walking side by side, he glanced at her.

"Nothing bubba...don't worry about me..."

He clearly wasn't buying it, "Alright then, I believe you, but that doesn't mean I won't keep worrying about you..."

She moved a little faster than him, he struggled to keep up till he saw a familiar tree in the distance.

"That's the tree house?" He asked, in astonishment.

"Yeah, so?" She glanced at him.

"It...it just looks like fionna and Cake's house..."

"Listen, lets just go alright?" She nodded her head towards the tree, "If you wanna meet my buds, then lets just go meet them...". Impatient as always, she took his arm and dragged him the rest of the way to the adventurers tree house, right up to the front door. She knocked loudly.

"FINN, GO GET THE DOOR!"

"NAH JAKE I'M BUSY! YOU GET IT!"

"BRO, I'M BUSY!"

"BUT YOU CAN JUST STRETCH AND STUFF!"

Marceline groaned, "You know, if NEITHER of you guys answer this door i'll break it down myself..."

"MARCELINE!" They both shouted in usion.

She heard them racing downstairs to the door to answer it. Tripping over each other and screaming in pain, the door swung open to reveal the familiar faces of a young boy and a dog. They grinned at the sight of their friend, the vampire queen.

They both clinged onto her in a tight hug, making her cringe.

"Uhhhh...guys...i'm glad to see you too but I kinda have a friend with me..."

Thats when they both saw bubba, both looked surprised to see him, perhaps because they thought he'd be home by now.

He looked at them in curiosity, he had seen them once before, but he was now just realizing their resemblance to his own friends. The animal hat, the blue shirt, the blonde hair, and the fact that their sidekick could shape shift and stretch.

He was starting to get used to everything being so similar at this point, but that didn't mean it wasn't shocking to him when he saw similar places and people to ones at home.

"Uh...hello?" He said, "Your Finn and Jake I presume?" He extended his arm to shake, they both took it.

'Yeah dude, remember us? We kinda thought you'd be home by now."

He chuckled nervously, "Well yeah, so did I..."

"He's here cause he wanted to meet you guys...and whatever..." Marceline shrugged, " I guess i'm kinda giving him a tour around the area...". She gave them a look, "I hope you plan on letting us in..."

They moved out of the way, allowing the pair to enter their home.

Gumball observed the inside of the house as he entered, no doubt comparing and contrasting fionna and Cake's house. He stayed closer to marceline, not wanting to leave her side.

He could hear Finn and Jake talking behind him as he and marceline entered their living room, it was mostly mumbles, but he knew they were about him. He just hoped it meant something Good.

He took a seat, looking at everyone else. Everything suddenly felt awkward, he was the odd man out around here, and it was clearly showing based on how everyone was looking at him and how he wasn't looking at any of them in the eyes.

He twiddled his thumbs, "You guys seem alright..." He said quietly.

"Heh...thanks dude..." Finn chuckled, "So are you and Marcy getting along and stuff?"

He presented a small smile, "I guess you could say that...we're friends...and she's been a wonderful host. I like staying with her...". He gave another small smile to marceline, who raised an eyebrow at his gesture.

"Do you guys wanna hang out?" The eager boy asked.

And that lead to the four playing card wars, gumball never had played before, so Finn and Jake were arguing over who'd be teaching him. Marceline, who was on bubba's team, was clearly doing the best of all of them. Perhaps because she'd been around long enough to have mastered the game.

Bubba eventually just obeyed her orders, and did what she told him.

He had to admire how well she was with strategy, she seemed to know what she was doing, and knew her enemies every move. Finn and Jake both seemed to fighting over what move they were gonna make, marceline's grin began to grow with every enemy she conquered. She was getting too much enjoyment out of this.

By the time the game was over, marceline was easily victorious, grinning and pumping her fists into the air in victory.

"YES!"

Bubba chuckled, this was a team game, but it was pretty obvious who really won.

Finn was a sport and clapped, Jake looked very upset.

Marceline danced in victory, laughing, "Oh god, that was FUN! Wanna go another round you two?". Finn probably would've said yes if Jake didn't look so upset, Jake looked as if he was about to flip the table.

After Marcy calmed down, she patted gumball on the back.

"Nice job there bubby...we make a great team!", she snickered. "We should do this kind of thing more often..."

Bubba smiled, he laugh was contagious, he gave a small chuckle. "Well, marceline, what should do next? Would these nice young gentlemen care to play another game?". He was being playful, and so was she. Both messing around with goofy grins.

Marceline reached up and patted his head, "Well, I'd say it's movie time, their's a movie playing in the woods, shall we go gummybutt?". She took his arm, a little too tightly, considering he was flinching a little. He looked at Finn and Jake with a questioning gaze, "What about your friends, should we invite them to go with us?", he didnt want to just leave her friends like this, it was only polite.

"Well...if they _ **want**_ to.." She pouted at her friends.

Jake brushed them off, "Whatever i'm not in the movie mood anyway, go enjoy your date..."

Both gumball and marceline's eyes widened at the remark.

"We're not on a date..." She hissed, eyes glaring red. "Can't two friends just enjoy a movie together?"

Finn came between them, "I'll just stay with Jake, we got important adventurer stuff to do anyway..."

Gumball could tell he was really just trying to split them up, Jake was upset enough as it was. He smiled in appreciation, and tried to lead marceline out the door before she started anything.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you guys, we'll see you around..."

"Oh hey wait, did you ever talk to ice king?" Finn piped up, "Y'know, bout his fanfiction?"

Marceline looked as if she'd seen a ghost, Simon's fanfiction? Of course! Thats why PG was so familiar! Prince Gumball was the name of one of his characters, the one he based after bubblegum! Marceline looked at gumball, same pink skin, same blood, same kingdom with similar friends.

It would make so much sense!

But he wasn't real, gumball was a character, not a real person.

Gumball noticed her watching him, he blushed, embarrassed.

"Er...marceline? Are you alright?"

She snapped out of it, holding her head, no, that was ridiculous. It wasn't possible for him to be the exact same character, there had to be something more to this, if she went up to bonnie and said that gumball was a fictional character, she wouldn't believe her.

"Y-yeah, i'm alright...er...l-lets just go..."

She gave a light wave to her friends, and she and bubba left the tree house. She kept looking at him in question, almost questioning reality itself.

In a world of magic dogs, wizards, and candy people, why was **_this_** the thing she had the hardest time believing?

"Marceline, is everything alright?"

"Er...yeah...i'm good...uh, i suppose i'm supposed to carry you out right?"

"Well yeah, i need to know where we're seeing the movie, do you know what kind it it?"

She took his arm, "Er...no...lets just go..."

The movie was being shown outside, with a projector, you could see people of all kinds sitting ontop of cars and grass waiting for it. The ride there had been silent, marceline hadn't said a word to bubba, despite his attempts to have a conversation with her.

When she dropped him onto the ground, she still said nothing, she looked for a spot to sit.

She took a seat on top of a car, and bubba joined her, she still wasn't looking at him. Bubba assumed she was lost in thought, and she was, in fact. Although she was thinking only of him now.

Bubba sat there in silence, it was beginning to get dark out, and more and more people or all type were getting ready for it. He was tapping his fingers on the car, marceline's ears twitched.

"Cut that out..." She mumbled.

"Nah..." He replied playfully, glad she was finally speaking.

In response he tapped even louder, causing the vampire to reach over for his hands. He playfully fought her back and they both fell back onto the hood of the car, laughing. Marceline was lightly hitting him back, pushing his face.

"H-hey, get off me you weirdo!" She was laughing and grinning stupidly, she could only imagine how they looked right now.

She pushed him off her and punched his shoulder, "Your a dork..."

He grinned.

Marceline removed her hat and gloves, it was getting to dark out for the sun to affect her anyway.

"I hope they're playing an action movie..." She said, leaning back to get comfortable. "Could use something exciting..."

Bubba leaned back next to her, crossing his arms. " I'm glad we got to do this today...it's nice...". He was glad they could hang out and enjoy themselves today, after what had happened before, this was a nice change. They were just relaxing, as friends, no drama, no problems. Bubba wondered if he ever got home, if marceline would come and visit him, and that she'd hang out with him and do stuff like this.

It was a nice thought.

"Yeah...I gotta admit, today was pretty nice..." She said, agreeing, " Your kinda fun to hang out with...for a dork..."

"I wish more days could be like this..."

She said nothing, thinking about how he had described his life to be.

"Yeah...me too..."

The two relaxed as the movie began to play, unfortunately it turned out to be a romance movie. Marceline's face cringed and bubba looked at her awkwardly, blushing harder than he was supposed to.

"Uh...er..."

Marceline groaned, kinda wanting to leave. Her groans made bubba giggle a little bit, "Don't like romance films huh?", he teased.

"Ugh, no, they're boring lame and too cliche, cause we all know that in the end those two are gonna get together and kiss, and cry. It happens in every romantic movie and book and junk, it's stupid..."

He looked at her in question, "What? Have you never been in love before?"

She shrugged, "Sure, yeah...but it was awhile ago...".

"Was it really that bad?"

She frowned, letting out a sigh, " No...I guess not, but it feels pretty bad now...I guess I never had as much success in relationships. These movies aren't realistic though, no one just falls in love at first sight..." She groaned.

"Maybe not..." He said softly, "But my love life hasn't been any better...so I guess we're both on the same page..."

"That love sucks?"

"Yeah..."

He placed his hand on her shoulder, "Y'know...if it makes you feel any better, I think you'll find someone someday..."

"That means everything..." She grinned, "I hope everything works out for you too bubba...that you find someone...". She winked at him, Being playful, "But I bet she'll never be as interesting as me..."

"Oh we'll see about that..." He grinned mischievously, "Someday i'll find her, someday...". He sat back, watching the movie, he covered his eyes at any embarrassing parts, the fact that he was with marceline wasn't making this situation any better. Two friends don't simply go to see a romantic movie together, he was starting to think about what Jake said before, was this really a _ **date?**_

He shook his head of those thoughts, he was taking this all too seriously. There was nothing wrong with him and marceline just hanging out together, they were having fun together s buds, nothing more.

He looked over at marceline, she was groaning at the film and making adorable faces, she was pretending to be tortured by the movie by pretending to puke and die of boredom. Bubba chuckled at her, she was being so funny and adorable.

By the time it was all over, they were both ready to go home and sleep.

Marceline watched bubba as he fell asleep that night, thinking about today and everything that had happened.

She placed some covers over top him, he was moving a little in his sleep, she gave him a small smile. It was adorable, she didn't know how to feel about him. If he was the character from Simon's stories, there was more to all of this. But she liked him, and she hated to admit she was growing attached to him, and his presence.

"Sleep well bubba..." She said before she went upstairs for bed, "See you in the morning bud..."


	6. Trust Me

"Marcy...?" Bubba groaned from under the covers of his makeshift bed, "Are you there?"

He didn't feel good this morning, his head hurt, his throat sore, and his nose stuffy. It had been a very long time since he'd been this sick, because normally his people were able to take care of him and keep it from getting worse. But he was stuck in marceline's home, and everything was much different under these circumstances.

Marceline's zombie poodle, Schwabl, padded his way towards the candy prince and licked him on the face.

Normally bubba would find this act extremely cute, but today, he couldn't care less. His covered his face with his blankets and let out a moan, these were the moments he desperately wished he was back home. He felt terrible.

"Bubba?" The front door opened and marceline walked in, carrying bags of groceries. "I'm sorry dude, you were still sleeping so I decided to go get some more food...everything alright?". She was wearing a long coat and a mask, which she removed after setting sown her grocery bags, she had a long braid today and was wearing a tank top and jeans. She immediately went to bubba side, concerned that maybe leaving him alone wasn't her best idea.

"I don't feel very good today..." He said, " I feel terrible..."

"Are you sick?" She asked, she didn't know how to handle taking care of a sick individual, she never had much experience. If bubba was sick, she wasn't really sure what she would be able to do for him. She removed the blankets covering him and put a hand on his forehead, trying to get his temperature.

Bubba shivered, her hands were cold, like ice. He had the feeling this was one of the perks of being undead.

Marceline bit her lip, bubba ** _did_** seem warmer than usual. This wasn't a good sign.

"Is anything bothering you?"

"My throat, my head, and my nose..." He groaned, "I think I have a cold..."

"Oh..." She said, "Man, I'm sorry bubba...I just thought you were really tired...I didn't know you were sick..."

"It's alright marceline...but do you have anything that'll help?"

"No...I don't, i'll make you some soup and I'll call bonnibel alright? She's cured plenty of colds..." She immediately went back into the kitchen and went through her supplies for soup to serve. She picked up her phone on the way.

"Thank you..." He said, adjusting his position, trying to go back to sleep.

Marceline heated some soup on the stove, she didn't need bubba sick, she was supposed to take care of him in his time of need and this was a sure way of failing her job. He was her friend, and she needed him to get well soon.

She dialed bonnie number and waited for an answer.

"Ugh...pick up peebles..."

She grumbled until l a voice came from the other side.

"Hello?"

"Peppermint butler?"

"Yes..."

Great, this only meant one thing.

"Bonnie's not there is she?"

"I'm sorry miss Abadeer, the princess was called in to do something else today, can you leave a message?"

Marceline groaned in annoyance, "Sure whatever, just tell her bubba's sick with a cold and I need her to cure him soon alright?"

"Your friend is sick?"

"Yes...he's sick...now just tell her when you can alright?"

She hung up, frustrated, "Great, thanks bonnie, glad you're here for me today...".

While the soup was heating she returned to bubba, "Need anything?" She asked. Who knew when bonnie would get back to her, she had to make the best of the situation as she could. He wasn't asleep yet, clearly having trouble doing so, "I feel warm, do you have an ice pack or something?".

"I'll check..." She, went to her freezer, she didn't have an ice pack. She made her own ice pack out of a wet paper towel and a plastic bag full of ice, It would have to do for now. She returned to bubba and placed it onto his forehead, "Man, i'm sorry bubba, you must feel terrible..."

"I'm just glad your here..." He mumbled, "Taking care of me...I needed this...", he reached his hand out of the covers and before she saw it coming, he took her hand. She would've blushed , but this wasn't a scenario to get embarrassed about, he needed her company right now.

"It'll be fine..." She said, "Don't worry your pretty little head, nothing bad is going to happen to you..."

"I know that..." He grinned, "You can handle anything..."

She grinned too, "Alright, I gotta get back to your soup, take it easy alright?"

She went back into the kitchen, humming to herself as she cooked the soup. Tomato, something they could both eat. She wasn't that great of a cook, but soup was easy enough to make for the both of them. It brought back memories of her and Simon, when she'd get sick and he'd take good care of her and wouldn't rest until she was feeling better. She smiled, these were much different circumstances though.

The soup was ready, she put some into two bowls and grabbed some spoons. She set the table, admiring her work, glad this had turned out pretty good and that she hadn't screwed it up.

She helped bubba up and sat him down, putting a blanket around him. He smiled at her efforts to take care of him, she probably didn't like mothering him so much, but he appreciated so much that she was making such an effort nonetheless.

"Smells good..." He said, "You didn't have to..."

"Hey, we're roommates...and i'm kinda supposed to take of you anyway..."

He raised an eyebrow.

She giggled, "And your my friend bubba...i'm not gonna let you suffer like that..."

"Thanks..."

"Hey...you'd do the same for me...now eat, enough chit chat." She nodded towards the soup, she took her spoon and begun to eat. The soup was still nice and hot, bubba blew his a little before he ate, eating every little spoonful.

"It's great Marcy..." He complimented, "Thank you..."

She smiled in gratitude, " Glad you like it bubby...", then she thought of something. "Since your sick and stuff, maybe you should sleep on my bed for a little while...if you don't mind of course..." She felt awkward saying it, but she knew this was the right thing to do.

"N-no, it's fine Marcy, as long as your okay with it, I don't mind...", he'd never slept in another person's room before. The idea of doing so felt a little awkward, perhaps because marceline specifically told him from day one she didn't want him in there. "If your really sure, I can just sleep on the floor..."

"No, your my guest...plus i'm sure my floor ain't as comfy..."

"It's been awhile since you've shared a bed huh?" He asked.

"Yeah..." She mixed her spoon around in her soup, "Look, i know you want to know about my romantic life...but I really don't feel like talking about it...alright?"

He bit his lip and continued to eat, suddenly upset with himself.

He wondered if her romantic relationships had been too horrible for her to talk about, maybe they were abusive, if she was a vampire she had to have been involved with alot of people in her time. Maybe something really bad happened.

He couldn't hep but be curious about her, she was too interesting.

Behind that face held so many secrets and memories, and he wanted to know more about her.

He felt nosy, and maybe he was being nosy, but there wasn't much to do besides talk to her.

He ate in silence, not saying a word to her.

Marceline was thinking of him too, and in a similar way. The idea of him possibly being Simon's character was ludicrous, but she didn't have any other leads, and if he was, why did he exist? Did Simon finally figure out a way to make his characters real? And if so, why aren't the others here? Why just gumball?

Her mind was gonna burst, it was all too much.

She must've looked pretty crazy too, gumball was looking right at her, with much concern. She turned away from his gaze, she didn't need him to babysit her right now, what she needed was for him to sleep and her to get her head straight.

Bubba finished eating, and marceline showed him her room, her room was practically perfect for her. It was dark purple, full of oddities and rock stuff, she even seemed to have a bit of an recording studio in the corner.

He sat on the bed, "Thanks for letting me sleep here for awhile..."

"Yeah, well..." His smile was making this more awkward than it should've, "Just promise you'll just sleep here, and don't touch my stuff..."

"Promise..."

He hopped under the covers of the left side of the bed, or from his position, the right.

Marceline threw the covers over him, "Just sleep alright pinky? If you need anything, call me...i'll be downstairs".

"Thank you", he mumbled, and closed his eyes. Marceline shut off the lights and looked at his peaceful face one last time as she descended downstairs. She let out a sigh, she wasn't used to taking care of someone so much, but at least he was asleep, she could take a little break. She went into the kitchen, it was probably best she clean all this up before bonnie arrived, that princess was such a neat freak.

She cleaned up the bowls and sat down on a chair.

She closed her eyes, she needed a nap too.

Bubba looked around, where was he?

it was all black, everywhere, a dark room with no exit.

"Hello...?"

His voice was echoing throughout the room, making everything more bizarre and scary.

And then he heard voices.

"Fionna? Marshall lee?" He called out, "Is that you?"

Figures appeared, in the form of his friends. He almost wanted to cry, it had only been a week and a few days, he hadn't realized just how much he missed them. He ran up to them, "Guys...oh god I miss-"

"You missed us?" The Marshall lee figure said, "Said the guy who left us... who ditched his best friends and found new ones..."

Bubba stopped, "Wh- i didn't ditch you, I-I got lost, y-you guys abandoned me." His eyebrows narrowed at the comment about marceline, "I-i never replaced you guys, marceline is just-"

"She's what prince?" Fionna said, " If you cared about us...you would be trying to find us..."

"I AM trying to find you guys, i just-"

"Don't bother bubba..." Marshall lee sneered, "We're better off without you anyway...your just a third wheel..."

Bubba stepped back, "Your not real...my friends wouldn't say that about me..."

"Maybe not to your face...but what have you really done? Your nothing...we don't miss you, and we never will.."

"YOU'RE LYING!" He shouted, holding back tears. "You are NOT my friends, my friends would never say things like this, I will get back to you...someday, marceline is my friend, she's helping me...". His head was hurting worse than normal, he never felt so conflicted in his entire life.

"Marceline is nothing, she's not your friend..." Fionna said, "She doesn't care about you..."

"Yes she does, right now, she means so much to me. And i'll never be able to repay her for kindness..."

"Like when she kicked you out?"

"Shut up...just shut up...GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

He fell to his knees, and screamed.

Gumball awoke with a start, it was just a nightmare, a horrible nightmare.

He was panting hard, sweat trickled down his face, he sat up holding his head.

"It was only a dream..." He said, trying to calm himself down, his heart rate was beating faster than normal. He breathed in little by little, processing everything, he was still in marceline's room, everything was fine, he was just having bad dreams. He stood up and wandered into the bathroom, perching himself in front of the sink, he splashed some water onto his face. He missed home, he missed it alot, it was only a dream but it made him wonder if his own friends missed him at all.

Marceline, he needed to talk to marceline.

"MARCELINE!" He called as he went down to the first floor, he halted as he saw her. The vampire was passed out on the floor, on bubba's normal spot, too tired to carry on. He long dark hair was everywhere, ears exposed, she made small snoring sounds as she slept. Bubba smiled, she was cute, she must've been really tired after taking care of him. He didn't want to wake her from her slumber.

He sat down next to the sleeping vampire, He was feeling a little bit better, he wasn't completely cured, but he was certainty better.

He didn't want to disturb marceline, he wondered what time was it, how long had they both been asleep?

He covered marceline with some blankets and wandered into the kitchen, he was hungry again, grabbing an apple, he took a bite. It was delicious, he was glad marceline had picked up some more groceries today, fresh fruit tasted quite good. He was glad she had his back, she was someone he almost felt he could rely on, and hopefully she was.

He considered doing some reading until she awoke when he heard a knock at the door, it awoke marceline.

"wha-ugh WHAT NOW?!" She sat up with a start, face in rage, she was growling. She floated over to the door, and opened it, revealing the pink princess in the doorway. She looked bewildered at marceline, who looked as if she was about to pounce on the princess.

"Er...hello? I got your message..."

Marceline shifted back to normal, "Took you long enough...", only then did she realize bubba was behind her. "Oh...uh...bubba your awake...", She suddenly became embarrassed, "How long have you been awake?"

"Few minutes...don't worry..."

"Well, i have your medicine bubba..." PB said, holding a needle, "So lets get this over with..."

She walked into marceline's home examining the place, she saw the messy pile of blankets and pillows on the floor, her eyebrow raised. "What's this? She asked curiously towards the vampire queen.

"T-that's where...er...bubba sleeps..."

Bubblegum crossed her arms, scolding marceline, "Your letting your **_guest_** sleep on the _ **floor**_?"

"It's **_my_** house bonnie..."

"Yes, but your supposed to be taking care of him, why isn't he sleeping in your bed?'

"Well..."

"Marceline, let him sleep there from now on, he needs a better place to sleep..."

She pouted, "Fine...whatever...but only because your making me..."

Gumball exposed his shoulder, "Go ahead, I don't mind shots...". Bonnie made it quick and punctured his skin with the needle, giving him his medicine. Releasing him she turned towards both of them, "Well, i gotta run, i'll see you both...soon..."

'WAIT BONNIE!" Marceline grabbed her shoulder.

"What?"

Marceline froze, what was she supposed to tell her? Bubba was a fictional character? She hadn't any proof, yet. She wanted to tell peebles about her theory, but she couldn't, it wouldn't work, and it certainty couldn't work with bubba in the room.

"Uh...nevermind..." She backed up, embarrassed.

"Marceline..."

"er...sorry..."

Bonnie nodded towards the both of them, "You guys take care, tell me if you need anything alright? and make sure bubba sleeps comfortably...you guys are mature enough to sleep in he same bed together", she went outside, closing the door behind her.

Bubba looked at marceline, "We're gonna share a bed?", a warm feeling spread to his cheeks. He'd never shared a bed with anyone before, so this was a first for him. He, prince gumball, was going to share a bed with marceline, it sounded so bizarre.

"Well, you could sleep up there, and I could sleep somewhere else I guess..." She mumbled.

"But it's your bed, you should sleep there..." He said, a little more nervous.

"Look bubba, we're just friends, nothing more, and we both wanna sleep there..." She started, " If you want, if we have to, I guess there's nothing wrong with sleeping on the same bed...as long as you don't do anything...weird..."

"You don't trust me? we kinda slept side by side before when watching that movie..."

He had a point.

"Alright fine, bonnie's right, you kinda should sleep under better conditions...but just remember, one false move, and your out..."

"I won't do anything, I promise...just as friends right?"

"Yeah, just as friends..."

After some cleaning, the two went upstairs and put away the pillows and blankets bubba used for his bed. It was almost 6 in the afternoon, and neither was tired enough to got to bed yet.

"I had a weird dream..." Bubba started, "About my friends..."

Marceline adverted her eyes from him, she was making her bed, " What happened?"

"It's nothing, they just...they said some cruel things about me and you...it was a bad dream...", he became silent, and rather sad. "Don't worry about me, it was stupid anyway..."

"Bubba...it's not stupid if your having bad dreams...I had many nightmares myself, I've kind of been through alot of scary moments in my life..." She put some blankets away on the tpp shelf, not really bothering to fold them.

"I know I've been so happy this time with you, but i'm also just so...terrified. I'm terrified of being alone... the people I care about all gone..." He looked at her, "It drives me mad that I can't do what I was meant to do, rule my kingdom. "

Putting away some pillows in her closet, he didn't notice she was right behind him until she hugged him from behind.

"Er...m-Marcy?"

"I'm sorry...about everything that's happened to you...", she chuckled a little, "Guess living with me ain't a breeze is it?". She didn't know what she was doing, but he wasn't telling her to let go. "I feel like a failure, i'm not used to taking care of someone and I feel like i'm doing everything wrong..."

"Marceline...it's not your fault what happened to me..." He sniffled, then he sneezed. " Today, you did so much for me, you've done nothing but do things for me...but there are some things you can't fix..."

She let go, "I know, it's just I let everyone down so often...I guess i'm just worried i'll screw up again and something bad is going to happen to you...". She huffed, "I hate being a screw up, bonnie isn't making any of it better...all she ever does i tell me what i'm doing wrong"

He took her shoulders, placing both hands on them. "I don't think your a screw up...you haven't failed me..."

"But what about when I kicked you out?"

"You were upset Marcy...I don't hate you for it..."

"You mean that?"

"Yeah...I care about you Marcy, your my friend, and i'm glad your the one that found me..." He let her go, "Look, it's been rough for both of us lately...I think its fair to say that we're both suffering, but this has also been some of the most fun I've had in a long time. I want to go home, I miss my friends, my kingdom...but I also kind of like it here too...". He felt almost ashamed to say it, but his home was here too, he was growing attached to it.

Marceline didn't know what to say, "But you have a kingdom right? I mean, what about your friends and stuff?"

"I know I have to get back to them..." He said, his face was saddened, as if his world was coming to an end. "But the time I've spent here had been some of the best, and maybe that's why I've been so strange lately...I don't want to leave..."

"Bubba, we'll find your home alright? And your welcome to come here anytime..."

"But they haven't come for me yet..." He whimpered, "W-what if they never come back? What if they don't care anymore...?"

"B-bubba they're your friends right?! Of course they care!" This time she took his shoulders, she was trying to comfort him, but it may come off as a little mean. "Bubba, I'm letting you stay here for as long as you need alright? You know your friends, they're probably worried sick about you, you can't let these things do this to you..."

"I'm sorry marceline, everything is just so conflicting lately..." He sniffled, then he begun coughing, he stepped back. "I want to be home, I want to be here, I want to know that everything's going to be okay...that I'll be fine..."

He took a seat on the foot of her bed, his headache was coming back again. "But, it's not going to be fine, is it? One stupid mistake lead me to all this, and now I don't know what it is I should do anymore..."

Marceline bit her lip, "Bubba...i'm not worth staying here for, we haven't even known each other that long...you should go home, where everyone needs you..."

"Do they...? Here, I feel so appreciated and happy...they haven't even come for me..." He was looking at the floor, "Marceline, I know it's only been a short while, but you've been here for me this entire time. You made an effort to take care of me today, even though you didn't have to...you care about me, you didn't do it for money or because you had to..."

"Your friends care about you too bubby...you'll see, I promise..."

He looked at her sadly, " I'm not worth all this trouble...maybe I was better off with bonnibel...so I stopped bothering you so much"

"Bubba, your not a problem, you have every right to be upset." She let out a sigh, "I was kind lonely here before you showed up, I guess even with friends myself I can feel almost alone...but i'm glad to have you here. You can be a pain, but you have a right to be...I'd be this way too in your shoes. I can't imagine being separated from my own home, and feeling as if my friends weren't coming for me..."

She sat down on the floor in front of him, trying to look up at him, "Look at me..."

He looked up reluctantly, his purple eyes looking into her red. Marcy grinned, "We're both sad people huh...maybe that's why we work so well together..."

He gave a sad smile, "maybe..."

"Bubba, I can't predict the future...sorry bout that, but I think your kind of cool, and I think somehow...things are going to work out...for both of us. We're friends and roommates, we take care of each other...kind of like Finn and Jake, without the whole "Brother" Thing." She showed off her fangs, trying to be silly, "Your going to be fine...trust your friends, trust your kingdom, trust me..."

"I hope so..."

"Your alright bubby, and your welcome to my evil lair whenever you need me...and I think it's fair to say we both kinda need each other..."

She reached up and ruffled his hair, "Now I suggest you get into bed, your friend doctor marceline is going to take good care of you..."

He sniffled, putting on a playful smile, "Is she going to bring me more soup?"

"Don't push it..."


	7. Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

**Hey Guys! Sorry for the wait! I've been going through a lot lately, and I was having trouble finding any time to write.**

 **But I'm back with the next chapter.**

 **I personally think this chapter is awful, but hopefully the next one will be much better. :P**

 **If you guys have any chapter ideas, feel free to tell me.**

 **Thanks, see you soon.**

 **Ideas for chapter by Dreamland-Of-Sohe, and Amysaraii.**

 **Thank you gals!**

-

Marcy tossed and turned on her bed, trying to get comfortable and clearly not succeeding.

"UGH!" She put a pillow on her head, last night she and bubba shared the bed, HER bed. Besides the awkwardness of the whole situation, the two had been struggling to get comfortable, bubba slept to her right, and whenever her feet kicked him, he would shiver.

She had to keep some distance from him because of that.

But he did very well throughout the night, he was quiet and polite, and his presence was rather warm, especially in contrast to her cold body. They both took turns in the bathroom beforehand, changing and getting ready.

Not as bad as she thought...

"BUUUUBBAAA..." She groaned, "You there?". She felt around the bed, he wasn't there, clearly he was up already. Bubba was sick, he couldn't possibly be cured already could he? She sat up on the bed, bubba's crown was sitting on a coffee table in the corner. He hadn't really worn it since he moved in here, perhaps because he only felt the need to wear it when he was being a prince.

And he wasn't a prince in this situation.

The vampire rubbed her eyes, Bubba wasn't in the room, she felt slightly panicked, what if something bad happened to him?

But that fear washed away quickly as she smelt something downstairs, the aroma of food woke her up immediately, she sniffed the air. She could smell pancakes, fresh fruit, and waffles. She licked her lips at the thought, food, she was hungry.

She got up and floated down the ladder to the first level, bubba was in the kitchen, flipping pancakes on her stove. He was humming to himself, clearly not noticing that marceline was awake yet. Marceline's mouth watered, he made fruit salad, pancakes, and waffles, she may not have know him long, but she knew him long enough to know his food was some of the best she'd ever eaten.

Being playful, she quietly snuck behind him, making a gnarly monster face, ready to pounce.

"I know your there..." Bubba said, smiling, "Good morning marceline..."

She pouted, shifting her face to it's normal formation, "How'd you know?"

"Marcy, your only the second vampire I've ever met, I know you guys..." He looked at her playfully, "Get enough sleep missy?"

"Yeah, i'm good..." She said, shrugging, "How are you feeling? Bonnie's treatment help?" She almost wanted to reach over and take his temperature to make sure he was alright, he seemed rather cheerful this morning, so that was a good sign. Bubba finished flipping the pancake he had and placed it on top of a pile of others on a plate.

He put the plate on their normal eating table, along with the other delicacies.

"I'm doing much better..." He said, "I'll make sure to thank Bonnie soon..."

"So...whats up with the feast?" She looked at the food, mouth watering by the second. "We having guests or something?"

"No..." He said, scratching the back of his head, "Actually...it's for you..."

Marceline couldn't hide the small blush on her face, "f-for me? W-why me?"

"I w-well I wanted to do something for you since you took care of me yesterday..." His smile was now more awkward, he felt embarrassed. "I mean, I hope you like it...".

"You kidding? THIS IS AMAZING!" She said, laughing, "I mean, y-you didn't have to make me food dude...this stuff looks delicious!"

He beamed as she scoped over all the food in excitement, he wondered if he had prepared too much. But by the looks of it, it was just right for a hungry vampire. Marceline didn't know what to eat first, it all looked too good.

Bubba and her got their plates and piled it up with food, then they sat down and begun to eat. Marceline was practically digging into her food, eating it all up. It was so good, and it was all for her, she felt oddly humbled by all this. Bubba was eating politely with his fork and knife, watching her with a big grin on his face. He was glad this was making her so happy, he liked seeing her happy, she was so much more fun and wonderful that way.

"Bubba...you really didn't have to do all this..." She said, suddenly feeling guilty.

"But I wanted too..." He answered, "It's sorta my way of saying thanks..."

"Well then you're welcome!" She laughed, plucking a strawberry off her plate and drinking it's red.

"After we finish up, we can change, after I take a bath. Then maybe...we can do something together..."

She looked up from her eating, "Like what?"

"I don't know...something fun!" He looked so happy, blushing ear to ear.

He finished up quickly and headed up to the second floor, where the bath was.

Marceline took this time to call Bonnie, using her phone. Bonnie picked up easily, delighted to hear from her friend. Marceline sat back on her hard couch.

"Hello marceline..."

"Yo Bonnie..."

"Everything going fine? Bubba sleeping soundly?"

"He's good, I mean, I still don't think us sleeping together is all that great an idea but..."

She suddenly became red, hearing Bonnie snicker on the other end.

"Y-YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT! Anyway, bubba's doing great, he loves it here..."

"Any luck finding his home?"

"Well..." Marceline started, she almost forgot about finding bubba's home, she hadn't really even been trying anymore. "Er..."

"Marceline..." Bonnie started, " You're forgetting the point... we need to get bubba home, he's only living with you as a temporary solution..." She sounded stern, and rather disappointed in marceline's lack of effort.

"Yeah, I know...but he's so happy here..." She sighed, "H-he told me last night he didn't want to leave...that he was having do much fun...with me."

"Marceline, you know he needs to get home...you can't keep him here. He has friends and family he needs to get to..."

"Y-yeah but...I think I kinda want him to stay too..." She admitted, guilty.

"Marceline-"

"Don't **_marceline_** me...I've lived alone a pretty long time bon, bubba's been awesome. This morning he made breakfast, for **me,** of all people he made it for me. He's my friend now Bonnie, and he's actually there for me, if he wants to stay, whats the harm?"

"Because he has a home Marcy, whether his story is true or not, he must have people worried about him." The princess said sternly, "It's selfish to keep him here, you know this is wrong..."

"But he likes it here bon, he talks about how much it hurt back home..."

"Marceline..." She sighed, "I'm glad you and him are getting along, but you have to think about whats best for him. I have to go, think about it alright?"

"Fine, whatever..."

She hung up, bothered, she didn't want to give up bubba, he was the first person she met who seemed to care about her. She liked having him here to keep her company, but bonnie was right, he had a home...somewhere...

And he belonged there.

She debated what she should do, until bubba went down the ladder, In a pink hoodie and jeans, he was wearing a beanie oddly enough. He beamed at the sight of her, "Marceline! " He said, "Hope you're still good, I know I took awhile..."

"Oh...no, no...you're fine...everything is good..." She said, smirking. "I guess this means it's my turn to bathe..." She stood up, winking at him.

He made a fake pout, then he let out a sneeze, a small one.

Marceline smirked even harder at his cute sneeze, "You sure you're cured bubby? I could always babysit you some more.."

"I'm fine Marcy..." He said, "I just want to go out and enjoy myself..."

Marceline floated towards the ladder, ready to head up, but before doing so she gave him one last look.

"Bubba, about what you said yesterday. Would you...would you really stay with me if you could?"

He almost looked embarrassed, "I-I well I-"

He sighed.

"Maybe..."

"Maybe?"

He turned away from her, "Don't make me choose..."

"PG...I respect your decision either way...you should do whatever feels right..."

And with that, she went up the ladder into her room.

_

Marceline didn't talk to bubba as they went out, she said nothing to him as he led her to the woods for a walk. He didn't know what to do, when she didn't speak, everything seemed to collapse around him.

Was it something he said?

He was ahead of her, hands in his pockets and kicking the ground in boredom. He stayed close to marceline though, being out in the woods alone wasn't a good idea for someone made out of sugar. She was floating behind him, looking bored and unhappy.

He stopped in his tracks, "Marceline...whats up?"

"What do you mean?" She mumbled.

"Why aren't you talking to me?" He looked at her in question, she floated past him. Her hair hitting him in the face as she went by, "It doesn't matter bubba...lets just go...". She didn't want to talk about all this, it was ruining her mood.

He placed a hand on her shoulder as he caught up, "It does matter, what's wrong?".

She grumbled, "You should go home gummy, back to your friends...", she bit her lip, "You can't stay here...you need to go home..."

"Marcy..." He said sadly, "Do you not want me to leave?".

She said nothing, and kept moving forward, frown upon her face. Her hair was getting caught in some nearby branches, making her even more irritated than she already was. She hissed, trying to untangle her hair from the branches.

"Bubba...you don't belong here alright? Even if you could stay it wouldn't be for the best..." She said, angry with herself. "You have people who matter, matter more than me and you should be there for them...I'm an idiot for not helping you out more, you should be home now, not here, walking with me."

"Marceline, it's fine, I trust we'll get me home soon enough. Besides, living with you has been fun..." He was smiling and trying to cheer her up, but it wasn't working.

"That's the problem bubba...you only want to stay because it's fun, your freaking running away from your home and i'm just helping..."

"M-marceline that's not true, I like it here because of you, I like hanging out with you...it's been a long time since I've felt so free.."

She kept floating forward, " You need your real friends bubba...not me.."

"But you are a real friend..."

"You thought about giving up your entire kingdom and your best friends to stay here, it's selfish bubba..."

He felt hurt by that last part, he fell behind her easily, hanging his head. "Maybe it is..." He said quietly, "I'm sorry Marcy...it's just...hard lately..."

"Not hard enough apparently...you can't choose bubba, you have to go home..."

He caught up quickly, "Hey...wait! " He was panting, she was pretty fast. She didn't stop either, she kept going, until she held him grab her shoulder. She hissed for him to let go, but her didn't.

"You're right..." He said.

She stood in her tracks.

"I was being selfish...I wanted to be here because I wanted to hide from my responsibility, hide from my friends, hide from everything that hurt me. But you're right, I have to face them again, I can't just hide here with you..."

She said nothing.

"If I ever get home, i'll make sure to come back and see you alright?" He tried to give her a sincere smile, but she still wasn't looking at him.

"I'm sorry about upsetting you marceline...I'm not exactly in familiar territory..." He let his hand fall off of her. " If your still upset with me, fine...but just understand that things aren't easy for me here, I feel lost. But when I get home, i'm never gonna forget about you alright?"

She looked at him, "Look, maybe I was being cruel...but you know I can't keep you here."

He grinned, "Then I guess we should enjoy our time together while we can..."

A gush of wind blew past the two, Marcy shivered, "Great it's getting cold..."

"Here, you can borrow this..." He pulled off his hoodie, Making her blush awkwardly. He handed it to her, smiling.

"Uh...you sure you don't need it? You're the one who had the cold and everything..."

"No...i'll be fine...take it." He was trying to be generous, but she was clearly taking this as something much more. She took it from his hands and awkwardly put it one, it felt warm from him wearing it before, it also now smelt like him.

A warm feeling went through her entire body.

"See, better?" He said, admiring her new threads. " Pink really looks nice on you...brings out your features..."

"Yeah...well...whatever..." She grumbled, "Let's just- Let's just go alright?". She floated along the path, hugged her arms and making a fake pout. Finding this to be amusing, he ran up to her and put an arm around her shoulder, playfully teasing her.

"Aww c'mon marceline...you look so adorable..." He teased, grinning a big grin. "Since i'm borrowing some of your clothes, you could probably borrow some of mine...". He wiggled an eyebrow at her playfully, in response, she pretended to punch him in the cheek.

"Cut it out you big dork...pink isn't really my color..."

"Well, I like it on you..."

They kept moving forward till marceline suddenly stopped, bubba looked at her in question.

"Something wrong?"

"I think my hair may be caught in something, do you mind-?"

"Sure..." He trailed along the dark threads, finding a bit caught in a bush, "You should cut this y'know? Or at least put it up..."

"I cut it eventually...but I like it long..." She shrugged. "I'm sure your hair gets caught in stuff too...since it's kinda made of candy..."

"Yeah...if i'm too close to others, it'll get caught in others hair..." He chuckled, "Poor Marshall lee, he wasn't pleased trying to wash that out..."

"Your skin feels kinda soft though...not sticky..." Marcy recalled.

"Not all of me is sticky..." He shrugged, he tried to carefully detach the hair with out pulling too hard. "But thank you...". He successfully freed the dark strands, they slipped out of the bush easily. He went back up to marceline, "Good?"

"Yep, thank you..."

The wind pushed harder as the two wandered further on their walk, they shivered, probably deciding it was best they go back home. A storm might be coming.

"Home?" He suggested.

"Yes please...it's freaking cold out here..." She said, agreeing, teeth chattering.

She leaned up next to him and they huddled close together as they made their way home. Clouds were getting darker and the atmosphere was colder than it was before, they were running towards the entrance of the cave when the first drop hit bubba. Then a second drop fell, and another, it was pouring on top of the duo and they entered marceline's home wet and cold.

Marceline sat on her hard couch hugging herself and shivering, bubba's hoodie was keeping her warm, but not by much. Bubba on the other hand, was soaked and cold, his gummy hair was more sticky now that it was wet. It drooped over his face a little, making marceline giggle.

"Ugh..." He groaned, trying to fix his hair. "I hate it when it's wet..."

"It's cute...must be all gross though..." She said, still shivering. "Need some blankets...or towels?"

"Sure...i'll go get them...just wait here..." He justified, heading up the ladder. Shortly he came down again carrying towels and blankets under his arms, he handed a towel to marceline, who immediately used it to dry her hair.

Gumball took a seat next to her, drying off his hair too.

"Yes..." Marceline said.

"Hmm?"

"To what you asked before...I _**don't**_ want you to leave..." She sighed, "I like my friends , they're awesome...but it's kinda nice to have someone like you around..."

"Someone like me?"

"Someone who takes care of me, who still sticks with me...my friends always have my back, but I've never had anyone who's like **_this_** y'know?" She chuckled, "I'm sorry, that sounded so sappy, but I'm gonna miss you when you leave."

"I'm gonna miss you too..."

There was silence, marceline sighed, "Just don't forget about me alright? Like you said?".

"I won't, I promise..." He took a towel and dried off his face, the room was silent except for the pitter patter of rain " So much for our day today...rain...". He laid back on the couch, cringing at how hard it was, "I was hoping the two of us could have more fun together...outdoors...". He was trying to lighten the mood between them by changing the topic, but it seemed difficult.

But not for her.

She grinned, "How about indoor camping? I have some old sleeping bags..."

"Marcy...it's only 2 in the afternoon..."

"Oh c'mon bubba, don't be such a sourpuss..." She grinned, "Don't you want to be in some warm sleeping bags?"

"Well...in that case..."

-

"Marcy, where are you?" The pink prince called out from the bathroom, he was looking all over for her, no sign. He was now in much warmer clothes than before, he also took a bath, he felt much better than before. Marceline and him had built a small pillow fort in the living room, something he'd never done before, but she said she was going to use the bathroom and didn't come out.

No sign of her.

"Ugh...marceline...c'mon, you gotta help me set up our campsite.." He said playfully, he'd never been involved in so much foolishness before he met marceline. Pillow forts? Indoor camping? Pranks? This reminded him of the foolishness he'd get involved with his friends, he smiled at the thought of telling them about his time with marceline.

The prince felt a tap on his shoulder, he jumped, frightened. But when he turned around there was no one in sight, "M-marceline...that better be you..."

He heard her snicker, "Yeah bubba...you know ALL my tricks..."

She appeared in front of him, "I have to admit...scaring bonnie is fun...but your reaction is hilarious...". Her bemused face looked innocent and adorable, but he could sense the mischief behind it .

"Well, i'm glad you're happy..." He pouted, he looked at her outfit. "Hey, are you still wearing my hoodie?". Marceline looked down, embarrassed, she had almost forgotten she was wearing it. "Oh...uh...maybe..." She felt herself grow red, "Sorry..."

"Don't be...wear it as long as you like..."

"Pink isn't really my color though..." She wanted an excuse to take it off, this was becoming more awkward by the minute.

"I still like it on you...but you can take it off if you feel like it..." He walked towards the ladder, "I'll be downstairs if you need me...i'm going to pick out a movie to watch..."

"Don't pick out anything stupid alright?" She called out.

"I won't promise that..." He chuckled.

-

When marceline went downstairs she was greeted with a pillow to the face, the prance laughed, "Glad you've finally joined the party missy..." He joked, " I picked out something you'll like..."

"Really?" He eyebrows raised in question, "What?"

"It's a romance novel..." He held up a small book, "Wanna read it with me?"

She didn't hide her disgust very well, "Bubba...seriously wh-?".

"I want you to read it with me...to be funny..." He said, "I know you don't enjoy that sappy romantic stuff...so I thought, why don't we laugh at it together?". He held up the book, smiling sweetly.

She crossed her arms, "You...wanna read it with me...so we can laugh at it? Why?", she raised her eyebrows. Bubba giggled, "because being with you at the movies was so much fun, you were so funny..."

"Really?"

"Yeah...and well- I kinda thought it'd be fun..." He looked at her face, she looked unhappy, "Well, if you don't want to we cou-"

"No...no...bubba, it's fine...i'd like to..."

His face was kinda saddened, he was frowning, "Sorry, I know...it was kinda ridiculous...".

"Hey...wait...no...". She took his arms, "Hey...I would love to! Don't be upset alright?".

And before she said anything else, he pulled her into a tight hug.

"Uhhhhh bubba..." She said, "What are you-?"

"I just need this alright?" He mumbled into her shoulder, "I just need a hug...". He whimpered into her shoulder, "I really miss my friends...".

Her arms crept around his waist, hugging him back, just as tight. "Hey, it's okay..."

"W-we used to do stuff like this all the time..." He sniffled, "and...I just miss them..."

"Hey...bubba...we'll find them, and we'll all totally hang out alright?" She patted his back, " Things are gonna look up, alright?"

"Alright...I-I'm sorry...I-I just..." He mumbled, "It's nothing..."

"No...it's fine...you can hug me..." She joked, " I think it's fair to say you DO kinda need this...". She could feel him breathing on her shoulder, he was starting to calm down, relaxing a little.

"Thanks..." He removed himself from her, "I'm sorry...I shouldn't have broken down like that..." He gave a meek smile, " I hope your not upset with me...". He backed up, awkwardly blushing.

"No...no...you miss your friends...it's fine, it's okay to hug me..." She said quickly, "I'm sorry I called you selfish before and stuff, I-I didn't mean it..." She was panicking slightly, trying to apologize, but panicking.

"N-no...this isn't your fault marceline...you were right, I need to go home. I'm upset because I want to see them again, my friends..." He admitted, " We used to do stuff like this, I just never realized how much I missed doing things like this.". He bit his lip, "I never should've taken them for granted, I should've made more times for my friends...", he was calming down. "I'm sorry I broke down, I shouldn't have done that...I guess I still have a hard time adapting."

"Hey, Shhhhhh." She pulled him in again, the side of his face leaned pressed against her lower neck, "Hey, just let it all out...take all the time you need."

"I'm a terrible friend..."

"Nah, bubba...you're awesome, I think your friends are lucky to have someone like you around..." She patted his head, trying to comfort him to the best of her efforts, "I mean, look what you did for me this morning, you made me food, and you didn't have to."

"Yeah, but I was selfish...I put my own needs before my kingdom, my friends...I wanted to stay with you, when I know I can't."

"Yeah, but you keep trying...you see me as a real friend, even after the things I put you through..." She argued.

"But I left them...I left my own friends..." He said softly.

"People make bad decisions sometimes when their scared and upset..."The vampire said soothingly, " Your not a bad person for what you did...and when you see them again, things will work out."

He was silent, marceline continued to calm him down, his breathing slowed. He didn't detach himself from her though, feeling comfortable, even against her cold skin. Marceline smiled a little, she liked it when he started to feel better around her.

"So? Wanna read your story? Friend?"

He removed himself to look at her, he still looked sad,"I don't know...".

"Here..." She dragged him into the fort, wrapping them both in blankets and using a flashlight to read. Bubba looked at her in question, "My friends never let me do this kinda thing before...".

"Is that why you got upset by my reaction?" She said, wrapping a blanket around herself.

"Maybe..."

"Well, you know what? It's just the two of us...and tonight, we're gonna do what you want." She felt warm under these blankets, perfect for her naturally cold skin. She had him open the book to the first page.

"Read..." She said, "Tonight, it's just us..."

He looked at the book, examining it, "Marceline, thank you...for still being here...I know i'm not perfect, but I really want to thank you for getting me through all this"

"I'm taking care of you..." She teased, "I'm not gonna let you be crazy miserable around here..."

He smiled sincerely, "My friends would love you..."

She grinned.

"Now read...or the big bad vampire will come get you pretty boy..." She hissed.

"Oh, we'll see about that missy, I know your tricks..." His smile grew to a mischievous grin.

"Wanna bet?"


	8. Real?

**Chapter idea by Whybot221 on deviantart**

Marceline opened her crimson eyes, she'd forgotten when she passed out but she knew she better get up and get to work now before the sun rose. She could hear light snoring next to her, the pink prince was clearly in deep sleep, making it easier for her to sneak out.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up on the bed, she'd been planning this for awhile, bubba had been living with her for a solid month now, weeks of unsuccessful attempts to find his home had left them exhausted and bubba hopeless.

Which is why now she had to follow her ridiculous hunch, that bubba was a fictional character.

She looked at the prince, he was positioned towards her, and he almost appeared to be talking in his sleep.

Marceline admired him for a second and got off the bed, she stretched out and yawned. She needed to change out of her sleep wear, something warm to head out. She picked some clothes off the ground and changed quickly in case bubba got up, she wanted to bring him along but she knew it was a bad idea.

This was something she had to figure out for herself, bubba would flip out if he turned out to be fictional, and she'd never forgive herself for what would happen if it turned out to be true and he knew.

No, she needed to investigate herself.

She quietly crept out down the ladder, Schwabl walked over to her and looked up at her with sad eyes.

"Sorry Schwab..." She said, "But I gotta head out...you guard bubba while i'm gone alright?". She patted the dog on the head softly, "Good boy...I Won't be long alright?". She went out the door, it was still dark out, she better get a move on before that changed.

Normally she wold visit the ice kingdom to see Simon once in awhile, but she wasn't today. No, today, she was going to have a closer look at those stories of his. It sounded stupid, but bubba had been stuck with her for a month now, a month of searching and exploring. This had to mean something, somehow...

She silently regretted the fact that she was going to steal from the ice king, but she had to help bubba somehow.

She silently went inside IK's normal humble abode, if he woke up, it was all over.

She didn't even know where his story was now, but ice king had an entire room dedicated to his fan fictions, so if she could at least see one...

If the gumball in that book was like the one living in her house, then things were certainty going to get more interesting around here. Ice king had told her quite a few of his stories, she'd even written a few herself, just for the fun of it.

They were a big deal to him.

She floated around the castle quietly, avoiding any sleeping penguins, till she came across a secret room.

"Boo yah!" She said silently, opening the door.

The room was huge, giant statues of fionna and cake took up most of the room, surrounded by many many books.

IK's fanfictions.

"Alright...I just need one..." She said, looking around, she saw one book that seemed to be rather dis guarded. As if someone had lazily threw it onto the pile quickly, she walked over and picked it up, it looked new, it must've been his most recent story.

"I'll take you..." She said, "And then i'll bring you right back..." She held the book close and she snuck out the door. She felt guilty, she shouldn't be stealing from Simon, but if it could help bubba, she had to take that risk.

She skimmed through the book really quickly, she needed something with prince gumball, otherwise it wouldn't be much use to her.

She skimmed to the end, seeing the pink prince's name, and paused.

"What the-?" She said, " She looked at the end in awe, and immediately closed and firmly grasped the book. "I gotta tell bonnie..." She said, she quietly snuck her way out of the room, she closed the door behind her.

WENK

She paused, immediately turning invisible.

A small penguin waddled it's way around the corner, observing it's surroundings, it had heard something. It waddled over to the door, opening it and slipping inside. Marceline carefully floated away.

 **Geez...if I had been caught...who knows what would happen?**

She saw no one as she left the ice kingdom swiftly, and made her way to the candy kingdom. She held the book tightly, not wanting to lose it, she only wanted it just to prove her theory, but this changed everything. She needed to discuss this with bonnie right away.

She quietly entered the princess bedroom through the window, the princess was sleeping soundly and softly.

"You bonnie...wake up!" She immediately begun shaking the princess from her slumber.

She groaned under the covers, "Marceline...I don't wanna sneak out tonight..."

Marceline rolled her eyes, she pulled on the covers, "BONNIE GET UP!". The princess groaned and sat up on her bed, irritated, "Marceline, i'm not interested in making another Squeez-E mart run...". She huffed, "Besides, what are you doing up so late? What about bubba?".

"He's the whole reason i'm here bonnie...I have a theory..." She said awkwardly, "It's kinda stupid...but I'm sure your big brain can figure it all out..." She held out the book that she had been clinging to her chest, "Have you ever heard of Simon's fanfiction characters?"

"Who?" PB asked, rubbing her eyes.

"They're these characters...and they're based off of us." Marcy explained, "It's kinda weird, I know...but there are characters such as marshall lee, fionna the human, cake the cat...and prince gumball."

"So?" PB asked, "Ice king has characters of us, whats this have to do with anything?"

"Well...it's just that...bubba is sorta...alot like the character in the book..." Marcy shrugged, "I mean...he even talks about his friends, who have the same names and everything..."

"Marcy, that's ridiculous." Bubblegum said truthfully. " And you know it is...bubba is a real physical being, not some made up character from your friend's stories..." She crossed her arms, "There is no way he could be real, trust me..."

"But this would explain so much! " Marcy whined, " I mean, if he's the ice king's fan fictional character that's based off you, than that would explain why you have the exact same blood and whatever!"

"Marcy..."

"And look at this!" She said, she skipped to the end of the book, flipping through the pages frantically. "See here...this is what bubba said happened to him, he's running through the woods, and something happened, it's written here! He screamed...and look!"

"Marcy, there's nothing there..."

"Thats the point! He's HERE now..." Marcy said, Excited. "This is amazing bonnie...I-I can't believe it!"

"Marcy...no...he's not real..."

"Yes he IS!"

"Try telling that to him..." Bonnie said, "Tell him that he's real now...that his home is all a story book, and his friends are all fake..."

Marceline fell silent, she closed the book, her happy expression faded. Even if bubba was real, this would mean he was as far away from home as possible, everything he loved and new wasn't real, what was she supposed to tell him?

Bonnie had a point, whether she liked it or not.

Bubba was trapped here, he wasn't real, he couldn't be real...but he had to be.

Marcy sat down on the bed, speechless. "What should I do Bonnie?" She asked. "Tell him he'll never get home? Tell him he's just a fictional character?". Her tone was sad, she felt lost, "I-i don't know what i should do now..."

"Marcy...he's not a fictional character...t-that's ridiculous!"

"Yes he is, he **has** to be!" She suddenly had an idea, "Wait...SIMON! I'll introduce him to Simon, if Simon recognizes him, than it's gotta be true..." She looked at her friend, "I'll prove it to you, you come with us to the ice kingdom, and i'll show you..."

"And what about the whole not letting bubba find out he's fake deal?"

"He doesn't have to know...not yet anyway...I just wanna prove that it's true for now..." She bit her lip, "And if it is...if Simon recognizes him...then i'll tell him..." She sighed, waiting for her friends response. The princess bit her own lip in thought, not sure if she should support her theory or not. "Alright, I'll you what, if ice king proves your theory, i'll believe you, but you have to promise me that if it turns out to be true, you'll tell him right away...don't hide it from him, imagine how hurt he'd be..."

"I promise bon...i'll tell him..." She said softly, "He's kinda growing on me..."

"I heard you made it to tier one..." Bonnie said, smirking, eyebrow raised. "Jake told me..."

"Bonnie, that was weeks ago...besides, he was sad..."

"You guys still made it to tier one..." She grinned, "I think it's adorable..."

Marcy grumbled, "We're not a couple, we're friends...". She was getting really sick of people calling them a couple, was it really that weird that they hung out together? It's not like they were making out of anything in public, they were just doing normal friend things. She scowled at bonnie, "Why does everyone assume we're dating? Why can't we just be a normal friendship duo?"

"Oh...I don't know...maybe it has something to do with the fact that you're clearly wearing some of gumball's clothing right now..." She winked. Marceline looked down at herself, embarrassed, in her rush to sneak out she hadn't noticed she had put on gumball's pink sweater and jeans.

"I-I W'we didn't- i swear!" She screamed, panicking.

Bubblegum erupted into a fit of giggles, 'It's okay Marcy, but I think it's really cute whats been going on between you two lately...I think you'd make a great couple..."

"Bonnie..." She groaned, "Stop...it's not funny..."

"Awwww, don't tell me after all this time you've spent together, you didn't think for one moment what it'd be like if you two were a couple?" The princess held her head with her hands, fascinated.

"Bonnie...no...it wouldn't work out...especially after what happened with-" She stopped.

"Us..." Bonnie finished, she sighed. "Marcy do you want to talk about it?"

"No..." She said, "I don't..."

"Marcy...you can date whoever you want...don't worry about me so much. If you want to be in a new relationship, i'm not gonna stop you..." She smiled, she was kidding of course, but Marcy's reaction was priceless.

Marceline stood up, off the bed. She didn't say anything, she was lost in thought. She and bubba had now spent a month living together, time spent bonding and taking care of each other. Really, she hadn't even thought about him and her as a couple, it never crossed her mind.

Sure, people were teasing her about it, calling him her boyfriend when they were together. But she never considered the idea of it in a serious matter, she bit her lip, thinking about it. Then she shook her head, laughing. Pffffft, they'd only known each other for a month! It'd never work out...

"Uh...Marcy?" Bonnie asked, "You alright?"

"Yeah...yeah...but I better get back to bubba before he wakes up..." She faced her friend, " i'll call you when we meet up alright? I'm totally gonna prove you're wrong." She stuck out her tongue in a teasing manner.

"Yeah...we'll see about that marceline..." The princess yawned, "I'll see you soon, take care alright?". She pulled the covers over herself and snuggled up under the long pink covers. Marceline gave her one last look before exciting her home, "night bon..."

Marcy made it home in time under the cover of night, she could still hear bubba sleeping.

She did her best to cover up her tracks, hiding the book in her private desk, and undressing out of bubba's clothing and back into her pj's. She slipped back under the covers next to the prince, he hadn't appeared to have stirred during his sleep. Marceline closed her eyes, smiling.

Bubba opened his eyes, he blinked.

He saw the vampire queen facing him, still asleep, making small noises during her slumber. Her hair was everywhere, almost covering her like a blanket, she was normally terrifying, but she looked so peaceful when she was asleep. He smiled, she looked so pretty, he sat up and looked at the clock. It was almost 10 in the morning?! Geez, his sleep scheduled had become so messed up because of this.

This month had consisted of one failed attempt after another, they tried to track down his home, snuck into wizard city to see if a spell had taken him here, tried to ask the princesses. Luck was clearly not in their favor, he was feeling more hopeless each day.

He never wanted so badly to be home.

Getting up off the bed, he went into the bathroom to freshen up, Splashing some water onto his face. He and Marcy were planning to head out this morning for breakfast, so the least he could do in a situation like this was clean himself up.

He changed silently and went downstairs, patting schwabl as he wandered off to his side.

"Morning cutie..." He said, followed by a yawn. "Your master is still asleep, i'll probably have to wake her...". Indeed he would, they had food to eat, and only a certain time to eat it. Marcy needed to get up and get dressed, it was time to leave soon.

Marcy didn't want to get up though, she was tired, more tired than usual. She hadn't slept much last night, she wanted to hide under her pillow and slept for the rest of the day. But she couldn't, she and bubba were going out and she had to go and visit ice king and prove her theory.

She put her pillow over her head, she could fell bubba shaking her.

"C'mon sleepy head..." He said, gently, "We're going out for strawberry pancakes...".

She hissed and groaned, like a child refusing to go to school, bubba crossed his arms. "C'mon Marcy...we gotta eat, you promised we'd head out this morning...".

"Uggghhhh..."

"Marcy, I've been around a hecka amount of years, and I've never eaten food outside of my home...made by others...please?". He was looking at her with begging eyes, puppy dog eyes. She peeked from under the pillow, he looked genuine and innocent, she groaned one last time before sitting up. He was too good at doing this kind of thing to her, making her want to do things she didn't want to.

She stood up, "Alright head down and wait for me, i'll get dressed and we can leave...or whatever..."

He hugged her close, "Thank you...". One of the advantages of being here was that he could do many things he couldn't do before, one being, he never had a sit down meal outside of his castle. Sure, he eaten at friend's homes, but as far as restaurant food, no. Perhaps because it was for his safety, that outside food could be poisoned, but her trusted marceline to protect him if something like that happened.

He let her go and went down the ladder, marceline reluctantly changed into some new dreads. She stretched, yawning greatly, putting her hair into a messy bun, she floated downstairs. She wore a grey hoodie, ripped jeans, and red sneakers, she felt satisfied, it was something lazy.

Bubba was dressed pretty casual too, wearing a vest, jeans, and sneakers. He didn't really have any formal clothes, or, at least anything princely.

He was growing to like it though, much more comfortable.

He waved to her, "Ready to go?". Marceline shrugged and put her hood up, "Yeah...I guess...", she watched him lead out the door. She remembered prince gumball vaguely from Simon's stories, he was based off Bonnie, but she remembered how different he was. It's almost like she already knew everything about him, but she didn't.

He was a real physical being that she could talk to now, he had his own thoughts now, new memories, nothing she could just read about.

"C'mon Marcy!" Bubba said, he took her hand and tried to drag her forward, "We gotta get a move on!". They made it into the entrance of the cave, and bubba hung on as she took them up into the air.

Marceline was lost in thought, thinking of nothing but him right now, and what would happen to him if her theory was true.

Bubba looked so happy, how would he react? Knowing everything he loved wasn't real, that _ **he**_ wasn't real?

She almost wondered if maybe she shouldn't tell him at all.

Bubba was set down feet first, smiling, and enjoying the feel of the sun on his face. A small diner was presented in front of him, he admired it, it looked so natural, it wasn't all fancy and classy, it was homey.

Marceline managed to make a small smile, enjoying his enthusiasm.

To her, this was normal, but he was treating this like it was the time of his life.

Must be a royal thing...

Most of the people surrounding the diner seemed to be fine with her presence, she **had** saved the candy kingdom before, and was the reason vampires weren't a problem, but there were some people who still feared her. Some customers saw her fangs and backed off a little, but bubba got them a table indoors nonetheless. It was far from any windows, keeping the sun from touching her, she removed her hood.

They sat across from each other, bubba was already looking at the menu.

"So...bubba, I was thinking maybe we could visit a friend of mine today..." Marceline said, awkwardly, scratching her cheek. "I think it could be fun, or whatever...".

Bubba looked up from his menu, "Hmm, which friend?"

"You...don't know him yet, but he's like...really important to me...we've been friends a long time."

"That sounds wonderful..." He said, "Of course i'd like to meet him, after we eat though..."

"Bonnie wants to come too..." Marceline said quickly, "Do you mind?"

"No...go ahead." He was being too polite, as usual.

When they had ordered their food from a waitress that kept her eyes on Marcy the whole time, they spent some time talking to each other while waiting for their orders.

Bubba told her stories of home, stories marceline remembered from Simon's fanfics, but hearing them from bubba's perspective sounded so much better. The way he described situation's such as the time he and Marshall solved mysteries and being kidnapped sounded so much better from him. He'd wave his arms around when he talked, like for emphasis, she'd giggle at that silliness.

When their food arrived, she ate it up like no one's business. Eating every last pancake and strawberry with no hesitation. Bubba wondered if being a vampire caused any of this kinda behavior. Although, watching her eat like this was amusing to him.

She stared at his plate while he ate, probably thinking if he had any leftovers she could take advantage of them.

Bubba could tell himself, and when he finished all he could eat, he passed him plate over to her.

"Here...go ahead..." He chuckled.

The waitress came back to take their check, she looked at gumball, "So a vampire huh? How long have you been dating?" She said, looking at marceline.

Bubba blushed, Marcy spat out her food.

"Er-no...w-we aren't a couple, we're roommates..." Bubba explained, "W-we aren't...together...like that..."

"Oh...well then...I hope you stay safe..." She said, finishing up and leaving.

Marceline looked at her back, disgusted. "Just because i'm a vampire doesn't mean I go around attacking people..."

"Ignore her..." Bubba said, getting up, "Ready?"

"Yeah..." She said, eating the last strawberry.

The flight to the ice kingdom was chilly, as always. Bubba shivered, wishing he'd brought a jacket with him to keep himself warm. He was wondering if ice queen would pop out, but after what he'd experienced in the last month, it was best to assume it wasn't going to happen.

Marceline dropped him off outside of the king's main homestead. "I gotta tell bonnie..." She told him, and he waited as she pulled out her phone and texted her friend.

 _Yo bon, we're here. Get here soon alright? Ps- you're totally gonna lose..._

Gumball shuffled his feet, he wasn't sure what to expect here, but he certainly wasn't going to be able to handle the cold for long.

"M-marceline..." He said, "W-we shoulda taken my sweater..."

"Oh...shoot, sorry bubba..."

She floated in front of him, "Bonnie should get here pretty soon, and we'll all have a fun time alright?", she was trying to reassure him of this unfamiliar area, but he didn't exactly look to happy.

She wondered how simon would react, he had wanted his characters to be real for so long, and now one seemed to be physically here. Would he freak out? Be crazily excited? Would he try to keep bubba?

She started to wonder if bringing bubba here was a good idea or not.

"Hey look!" Bubba said rather loudly, he pointed to a fast object in the distance. It was a large bird, with a crown, it got closer and when it did the princess of the candy kingdom jumped off and landed safely on the ground in front of them.

"Here guys..."

No turning back now...

"Bonnie!" Bubba said, he clasped his hands together in excitement. "Good to see you again. Things running smoothly?"

"Kingdom is doing just fine..." She said, she noticed bubba shivering. "Oh man...you okay dude?"

"I'm cold..."

"Here..." She reached behind into a backpack she was wearing, "Take this...". She handed him a sweater, "It's a spare I had for emergencies...". Bubba took it quickly, and put it on, "Thank you bonnibel...I needed that..."

"You're welcome, so? We gonna do this biz or not?" She looked at marceline.

"Sure...lets go..."

Marceline led the way inside, it was empty, she wondered if Simon was even home. It's not like he was normally a very quiet and un-social person. "SIMON?!" She screamed, cupping her hands around her mouth.

WENK

"GUNTHER WHO'S AT THE DOOR?!" Came a call.

WENK WENK

"MARCELINE?!"

A person suddenly appeared in the room, white beard, crown, and blue robe very familiar. He immediately hugged the vampire queen, "You here to hang and stuff? I've got some cool magazines we could read!"

He noticed Bonnie, "PRINCESS! YOU'RE HERE TOO?! I-"

"Save it..." She said, "We wanted to introduce you to _him_..." She pointed to bubba.

Ice king just looked at bubba, as if he didn't know how to comprehend what he was looking at exactly. "This is prince gumball..." Marceline said, "He's not from around here."

Ice King was sudden, he hugged gumball, almost squeezing the life out of him. He was laughing like crazy, not letting him go, "PRINCE GUMBALL!". He letting him go, "YOUR HERE , WE CAN FINALLY BE BUDS! WHERE IS FIONNA AND CAKE? THEY HIDING SOMEWHERE?!"

He was now excitably running around the room, looking under pillows and celebrating.

Gumball looked very confused, who was this guy? And why did he know his friends and who he was?

"No...it's just me, look...i'm lost an-"

"YOU'RE REAL, GUNTHER LOOK, IT'S PRINCE GUMBALL!"

A penguin waddled into the room, then backed out at the bizarre sight of ice king freaking out and making a mess.

WENK...

Marceline looked at Bonnie, who was taking notes on a pad. "Ice king, may I ask you some things about gumball?", she asked politely. Ice King looked delighted, "First gumball is my bud and now my GF wants to talk to me, this is the greatest day ever!"

"I'm not your gf..." Bonnie said, grumpily. And she followed ice king into another part of his home. Keeping he backpack close to her in case she needed to protect herself, this left marceline and gumball alone together.

Marceline eyed the confused prince, at least Simon hadn't mentioned him being fictional. But this meant she had to tell him the truth herself, she coughed into her fist. "So... er sorry about that...y'know...if it bothered you or anything..."

"marceline...why does he know who i am?" Then it came to him," Wait...this is the ice king Finn mentioned? The one with the fan fictional characters?" He was talking oddly, very oddly, this begun to worry the vampire queen.

"Well...yeah, who else would it be?" She laughed, awkwardly "Only one ice king around here..."

"it's gotta be a coincidence..." Bubba denied, "A bizarre coincidence ...pfffffft, me a fanfictional character...th-that's just ridiculous..." he laughed off his sadness, this only made marceline's heart drop more. She had to tell him the truth, but it would break him.

"Bubba..." She started

"Marceline...it's fine, i'm fine...it's just a goofy coincidence..." He gave a fake laugh.

"No...bubba...I just have to tell you-"

He looked at her with big sad eyes, marceline hesitated, and she choked up.

"-That i'm always here for you if you need me..."

Facepalm

She couldn't say it, she couldn't tell him the truth.

"Do you mean that?" He said, looking at her.

"Yeah...you don't think i'd honestly let you feel like this...if you wanna talk...i'm here"

"Thanks...i'm sorry, it's just that the thought of me...being fake...kinda worried me.."

She placed her hands on his shoulders, reassuring him with a grin.

"You're real...you'll always be real..." She said, "I think you're one of the realest people I've met..."

She was trying to comfort him, but that last line left her feeling embarrassed, she blushed. Bubba smiled, blushing too, and giving her a small chuckle. "Thank you...that means so much to me.."

"Heh..."

They both exchanged smiles.

"So...is ice king cool?" He said.

"Very cool, he's the king of cool..." She joked, "You still wanna hang out?"

"Yeah...that sounds like fun..."

"Well, c'mon pinky...lets go scare his penguins while he's out." She said, making a scary face, she took his arms and dragged him into another room.

"You're not gonna eat them are you? With your appetite?" He joked.

"Shut up..."


	9. An Embarrasing Sacrifice

Marceline sat alone in the living room, a book in her hands, she was gazing over it. But that wasn't it, there were books surrounding her, at least five others. She had been reading them non stop all night, bubba would walk in from shopping any time soon, and she'd have to hide all the books. She had found every book she could that was on the candy prince, for research purposes. This time she had asked Ik for his books and he was delighted for her to read them.

Ice king was constantly trying to hang out with her and bubba, and although she excepted, she was worried bubba would figure out he wasn't real.

But lately IK wasn't being as clingy towards bubba, who he considered to be one of his best buds.

She was learning alot about bubba, his relationships with his friends, his secrets, his likes and dislikes, it was all here. She felt guilty, like she was invading his privacy, but it was interesting.

He was interesting.

So many things she didn't even know about him, wrapped up in an book.

PB was still scratching her head over the whole "fictional character" thing, there was no way bubba could possibly exist, and after her interview with the ice king, it was clear he had nothing to do with bubba becoming a physical being. So there was something else going on, something she needed to find out, this was an amazing discovery she needed to discover. Who knows what she could do if she could make fictional things come to life.

She was looking into that, hadn't even left her lab because of her need to understand bubba's presence.

Marceline's theory had something to it and she needed some kind of explanation for it, and she didn't care how crazy it might sound. Perhaps after marceline was finished, she would borrow those books to examine them herself.

There was clearly something fishy going on around Ooo, and they were gong to figure it out.

Bubba had been very close on multiple occasions to figuring out about him being fictional, ice king had been asking him plenty of questions, and marceline had to keep both of them distracted. She promised bonnie she'd tell bubba the truth, but she couldn't bring herself to do it, not yet. The pink prince would know that he'd never get home, that everything he knew and loved wasn't real, it'd be terrible.

Gumball was out shopping for food today, and taking schwabl for a walk while he was at it, so he'd be out for awhile. Giving marceline plenty of time to finish these stories before he came home.

She hid them in her closet, in a large box full of personal things.

Bubba was polite enough to never look in there, thank glob.

She put down the book she was currently reading, "So bubba can fight with a sword..." She said to herself, "Heh...cool". She scooped up the books around her, clinging them to her chest and went upstairs, dumping them in the box in her closet, ans closing the door.

"Well...bet he could go adventuring with the boys some day..." She grinned, trying to imagine the prince holding a sword and swinging it at monsters much larger than him. It would be quite a sight to see.

Everything was explained, why he was so sad, what it was like with his friends, it all made sense now.

"MARCELINE I'M HOME!" Came a call from downstairs, she could smell a waft of something sweet downstairs.

She grinned.

She went back down and greeted the prince with a hug, "Hey dude..."

Bubba was carrying grocery bags on his arms, the zombie dog was by his side. Marceline bent down and pecked the dog on the head, "Schwabl, my man...have fun?". Bubba sat the bags in the kitchen, "He had a great time...found plenty of food to restock..."

"Good...i'm starving..." The vampire licked her lips, "Make some dinner...". Bubba smirked, "oh no...YOU'RE gonna make dinner tonight...". Marceline's face dropped, "Wait...what?".

"I said, _**you**_ are going to make **_me_** dinner." He was smirking so hard, loving her unamused face.

"And why should I do that?"

"Because I made dessert, and you won't get to eat it unless you make dinner..."

"Dessert?" Her mouth watered at the idea of it, bubba baked, and the things he could bake tasted amazing. She looked at him in irritation, "And make what?". He shrugged, "Whatever you want, you're over 1000 years old, you probably know some recipes."

"Well yeah but..."

"No butts missy, i make us food all the time, it's your turn..." He sat down on the couch, crossing his arms. Marceline continued to pout, but she obeyed, floating into the kitchen and observing her surroundings. She wasn't a very good cook, unless she was making simple things, she wondered if she could just make soup. But she was sure bubba wouldn't count that as actually cooking.

There had to be something around here...

She dug through the supplies and found spices, sauce, and meat.

"Hmmmmm..." a smirk grew on her face.

-

"Dinner's ready pinky!" Marceline called, the prince was outside playing on her basketball court, stumbling to shoot the ball. At the mention of dinner, he looked up with a smile.

"Ahhhh, thank you...what did you make?"

"Chili" She said simply.

Bubba raised his eyebrows, " you didn't make it too hot did you?"

"Awwww c'mon bubba..." She smirked, "Don't you trust me?". Her eyes were playful and mischievous, as cute as she looked in this fashion, this was when she was at her most dangerous.

Bubba smirked, "Any funny business and no dessert for you..."

Marceline pouted, "It's fine...just eat it..."

Bubba went inside the house, the smell of dinner actually smelled really good. "So, how'd you make it?". Marceline was scooping the chili into two bowls, she turned around, "Hmm?". "The chili silly." Bubba giggled, "What'd you do?"

"Just followed a recipe I found online..." She answered guiltily, she wished she had made it completely by herself, but she needed some kind of guidance.

"Well, it smells great!"

He took a seat and she placed a bowl in front of him, he took a whiff of it and placed a spoonful to his lips.

Then he took a bite.

"Mmmmmmm. " He said, chewing, "This is good Marcy...REALLY good." Marceline grinned, "Is it now? Mr 'royal pain' satisfied?"

"Yes...maybe we should have you make dinner more often missy..."

"Oh no no, i'd rather not..." She said quickly," My food gets to be cherished by being eaten at certain times..."

"Pffffttt..." He chuckled as he ate, "We'll see..."

It was still hot, and bubba was blowing on it to cool it off, marceline ate it all mush faster than he did and gave a satisfied burp, grossing the prince out. He finished up quickly and cleaned up, holding his nose.

Marceline snickered," Awww, c'mon it's not THAT bad is it?"

"You smell it."

He walked towards the fridge and opened it, "Good, you didn't touch them yet...", he pulled out a tray of cookies, red ones. Marceline's eyes bugged at the sight of them, mouth watering. Bubba had totally made red velvet cookies for her, and his facial expression made that obvious. He handed the tray towards her, "Here...take one, they're cold now, but i was thinking we could serve them with ice cream..."

Marceline plucked a cookie from the tray and smelled it, then in a flash she drank all it's red.

"Mmmmm..." She said, taking a bite, "This is REWL GEWD!"

"Thank you...now lets get some ice cream..."

-

Marceline felt the wind blow through her hair, it was cool out tonight, it felt nice.

Bubba had went to bed early, after cleaning himself up. So marceline went outside on her porch, axe bass in her arms, humming to herself. She was thinking about bubba, which was understandable considering how bizarre and odd he was.

She wanted to sneak back back inside and grab her stash of F& C fanfics but she didn't want to accidentally wake bubba up. Read some more, for research, his friends seemed so interesting, his life seemed interesting from the book's perspective.

Every time something bad happened to him in the book, she wanted to hug him, when he did something silly, she wondered what it would be like if she was there, laughing along.

She wondered if she could ever see that world for herself someday.

She continued to think to herself and play some notes on her bass, letting her thoughts take her away.

She had to tell bubba the truth sooner or later, but she didn't want to do so until it was right. She was even willing to have him live here if there was no way back home, let him stay here with her, if he wanted to.

She wasn't sure how to tell him though, he clearly wouldn't believe her, maybe if she showed him the books...

No, no...not yet...not unless we're sure he can't get home.

Feeling drowsy, the vampire queen went back inside her home and dropped her axe bass on the couch. It was warm inside, much better than the freezing wind outside. When she and bubba had been eating ice cream she told him stories about her adventurers, enjoying each time his face spread in awe and excitement. He was fascinated by her stories, perhaps because he had never witnessed events such as the ones she had encountered.

The vampire king, varmints, a witch, her stories were unbelievable, but incredible.

Marceline patted Schwabl on the head and went up the ladder.

She could hear small snoring noises coming from a mound on the bed, lazy, bubba removed his clothes and was sleeping in his underwear. He must've been more tired than she thought.

Marceline let out a yawn, maybe she better sleep rather than spend all her time reading fanfiction.

Ice King's fanfiction was weird anyway, weird stories, weird logic, and just plain weird things.

Marceline shuddered at the thought of ice king having another fanfic relating to him and fionna having another "Romance". They didn't seem to be a thing in bubba's world though, so she thought it best to assume not everything in these fics were accurate.

And maybe that was a good thing.

Marceline, also feeling lazy, just crawled under the covers in her underwear. It was warm in here anyway, and bubba and her were friends, he wouldn't mind.

She pulled the covers over her head, accidentally moving bubba, he stirred, for only a moment.

"Shoot..." She breathed, before sighing in relief. At least he didn't wake up, yet, she faced towards him. "Gee bubba...what am I ever gonna do with you?". She reached over and touched his hair, playing with it.

Bonnie had been joking right? About the whole 'you guys would be cute together' thing? Right?

Bubba appeared to be sleeping soundly, even looked as if he was smiling in his sleep, hopefully having a nice dream. Before she could respond, he snuggled up to her, head resting on her shoulder. Marceline blushed, her arms were going to push him away, but she might wake him up doing so.

He shivered, feeling her cold skin, then he let her go, pulling the covers closer to him.

Marceline was still frozen in place, not realizing he'd let her go till she felt the warmth of his body leave her. He was clearly dreaming and had grabbed her by accident, but that didn't make the situation any less awkward. Although, then again, it was warm in here and maybe he wanted to cool down. Biting her lip, she hugged him close to her. This was awkward sure, but he was starting to relax, cool off.

He must be having some weird dreams now.

"Hey it's fine dork...just sleep alright?" She said soothingly

She hummed to herself, this would be totally awkward if he woke up right now. He was almost like a child, hugging his mother for protection, and she was embracing him and calming him down. She laid her head against her pillow, holding him close and singing herself to sleep.

-

She woke up to find bubba still hugging her, breathing in slowly. Embarrassed by her actions, her let him go and got out of the bed immediately, getting dressed and heading to the first floor of her home.

"Ugh..." She growled, what the heck was she doing? Imagine if he woke up?

She slapped her forehead, she was only trying to comfort him last night and it looked more like they were cuddling. Ugh, this is why she didn't want to share a bed with him, wierd stuff would follow.

She considered herself thankful bubba hadn't woken up, explaining that situation would've been weird.

"I Should've just opened a window or turned on a fan..." She grumbled to herself, "Not _**that**_...ugh...i'm such a dummy...". She laid down on the couch putting her feet up on the arm of the couch, she looked up at the ceiling. She was embarrassed, so embarrassed, she was doing so many things she wouldn't normally do just to keep him happy and calm.

Okay, so maybe comforting him wasn't that weird but it sure felt weird.

She calmed herself down, "Ugh...that was stupid... the things I do for you bubba...". She felt her stomach growl, she wanted to eat, or at least, make bubba make her something to eat. But, she didn't feel comfortable around him right now, so maybe she should just grab an apple for now.

But she didn't get up, didn't budge.

Just laid there, tired, hungry, and cranky. Not sure what to do with herself at the moment, then she heard a noise from upstairs. Her eyes grew wide, bubba was awake, and he'd probably be coming down anytime now.

And soon enough, a pink figure came down the ladder.

"Good morning marceline..." He said cheerfully, yawning. He was still in his underwear, along with a undershirt, his hair was completely messed up, gum sticking out from all places, looking even more sticky than normal.

He smiled at the sight of her, "How are you, sleep well?"

"Fine..." She said, in a clearly 'Not fine' voice. "How are you?"

"I slept alright I guess...I was having weird dreams..." He recalled, "It was also pretty warm last night, I didn't feel very comfortable." He shrugged, "But I guess things were fine...cause I didn't stay that way...".

Marceline blushed.

"hope you didn't pass out on the couch silly." He said, "Not exactly like sleeping on a cloud..."

"No...no...i went up to bed too..."

"Hope you're not bothered, by my attire, I was sorta..."

"Tired? It's fine bubba."

"Heh..." He went into the kitchen, "So, what are we in-store for today marceline?"

"Lets just eat..." She grumbled, her stomach growled even louder.

"You sure you're alright?" He asked, "Is something up?"

"No bubba...i'm fine alright?"

He hesitated, "Are you sure?"

"Bubba...stop, I don't need to be babysitted..."

His face was of concern now, "Was it something I did?"

"No..."

He walked over to her, kneeling in front of the couch, "Marceline...whats bothering you so much? you wanna talk about it?". Marceline flipped over on her face, mumbling into the couch, "No...go away...". Bubba's eyebrows narrowed, "Marceline, if something is up, just tell me, i'm your friend, i'll understand."

Marceline got up and pushed bubba out of the way,"Ugh...just leave me alone already...!", she floated up into her room and shut the door. She felt bad about yelling at him and pushing him, but she didn't want to admit it.

She kicked the floor in anger, upset with herself, "This is so stupid..."

She opened her closet, carefully taking out her secret box and opening it, taking out one of the books. Her favorite story was in this one, the one where prince gumball, marshall lee, fionna, and cake go dungeon hunting together, bubba gets separated from the group and fights and solves his way through to get back to his friends.

Of course it had ice king's silliness written all over it, seriously simon? Fionna fantasizing about ice king and bubba fighting a dolphin monster? But she enjoyed it nonetheless, it was funny and made her really think about bubba, and what he had been through.

It made her smile.

"How can you be so cool **_here_** , but not out **_here_**?..." She mumbled to herself.

"Marceline?" someone was coming up the ladder, marceline immediately hid the box, clinged to her book, and hid in the bathroom. She could hear bubba enter her room, "Marceline, please...c'mon, talk to me." Marceline was leaning against the door, clinging the book to her chest. She heard bubba take a seat himself, leaning up against the bathroom door from his side.

"Marceline...I know..."

She immediately tensed, knew what?! That he was fictional?! That she had all these books?!

"W-what?!" She mumbled, panicked.

"I was awake last night..." He said, she couldn't see, but he was equally as embarrassed.

"Y-you were?"

"Yeah, I woke up after I touched your cool skin by accident...and then when you took me back..."

"Bubba...i'm sorry...I-"

"No, no...it's alright, to be honest, that was very nice of you...i was having trouble sleeping these last few days, y'know..." He chuckled, "Your singing was really pretty by the way..."

"Your not bothered by it?"

"No...really, it's nice of you to take care of me like that..."

"But...that was awkward! I mean...I-I..." She argued

"Marcy, how can I get upset with you for taking care of me? I was having a hard time sleeping, the heat was making me uncomfortable, and you stepped in "

"But we were practically cuddling!"

"You were only doing it to help me right? It's not like it was intentionally romantic..." He chuckled.

"Oh...right..." She said quietly, "Sorry..."

"Don't be embarrassed...you have nothing to be ashamed of...you cant tell me anything alright? I'll find out eventually anyway, we're roommates..." She heard him laugh, "Y'know, i'm glad I can trust you, I couldn't imagine having to deal with this all alone..."

Marceline felt her stomach sink.

"I used to end up doing quite a bit alone, like once...I was dungeon hunting with my friends, and I got separated from the group and-"

"You fought a dolphin and solved riddles..." She answered, rolling her eyes before she realized what she had done.

"Yeah! Wait? did I tell you this story before?" Bubba exclaimed.

Thinking fast she immediately answered, "Uh Y-yeah! I love that story by the way! One of my favorites!".

"Thank you..."

"We should uh...go dungeon hunting with the boys sometime..."

"Y'know, that sounds like great fun..."

"Yeah..."

They sat in silence, marceline almost thought he left, but she could hear him breathing on the other side of the door. She hummed quietly to herself, twiddling her fingers, she was hoping he'd just leave her alone and make this less awkward. Maybe he didn't find any of this to be weird, but that didn't change her own opinion on the situation. As far as she was concerned, she did something embarrassing she'd rather not repeat anytime soon.

Especially not with bubba.

She was only humming softly, but it increased slightly when she heard bubba humming along with her.

She stopped immediately.

"B-bubba?! w-?"

"Heh...sorry..." She heard him say, "I'm bothering you, i'll just head back down if you want to stay in peace. I just kinda wanted to see if we were still cool, y'know? that you were upset with me?". He pressed his head harder against the door, sighing, "I don't want anything to come between our friendship y'know? Especially since your my only real friend out here..."

It took a moment for marceline to answer, "Yeah, I get it...I guess i'm kinda sorry for freaking out and stuff. It's just..."

"Odd?"

"Yeah..." She gave a weak chuckle, "I mean, if you comforted me like **_that_** in the middle of the night, would you be a little weirded out?". Bubba chuckled too, "Heh, probably, but if it made you feel better, it would be worth the embarrassment."

"You're weird, like REALLY weird bubba..."

"Heh...thank you..." He scratched his neck, "Hey...you wanna go back down, and read together or something?"

" ** _Read_** together?"

"Yeah, we love doing that together, I know you have some books in your closet, we could read those?'

She could feel her heart drop, "NO! Those are- uh private! D-don't touch them!". She growled from behind the door, Clinging the book closer. If she left he'd see the book, and everything could fall apart quickly.

Luckily bubba respected her privacy, "Oh, sorry...well er- is there anything you don't mind doing?"

"Just go find something alright?! You're sorta blocking the door"

"Oh...right...pardon me..."

She heard him stand up, "I'll be in the living room...", the vampire queen relaxed. She breathed in and out, Calming herself down. She carefully opened the door, bubba was nowhere in sight, she quickly hid the book back in her closet. She'd have to take those books back tonight, she couldn't risk them being here any longer.

She couldn't help but feel saddened by the idea of their departure, but she had to do it.

She wandered down the ladder to find bubba passed out on her hardened couch, clearly still tired from last night, he was curled up in a ball formation. Schwabl was looking up at him, whimpering. Marceline rolled her eyes, "Ugh..."

It was almost hard to believe the bubba she knew in the fanfics was the same one curled up in her living room.

But nonetheless, he was still a person she cared about, and seeing him suffer was something that bothered her very much.

So instead of waking him up to eat or do something else, the vampire shifted her form into a large bat and curled herself around the prince, using her wings as a blanket and her fur as a pillow.

She closed her own eyes, still feeling tired as well. Not even bothering to worry about what she was doing or how awkward it was.

Maybe this _**was**_ embarrassing, but maybe that was a sacrifice she had to make for his well-being.

He was sleeping softly now, making small snoring noises.

She smiled.

 **Hey guys, hope your still reading! :D**

 **I hope you guys have a happy holidays this year!**

 **And i'm still taking cheater ideas for any of you wanting to contribute to this story!**

 **Cya guys next chapter.**


	10. The Ball

"Marceline!"

A pink figure crawled up the ladder frantically to the top floor of a strange purple home, one inside of a deep cave. The figure carried a letter in his hands and was desperately trying to find his roommate. It wasn't hard, however, as she was hiding under the covers of her bed, pretending to be asleep.

Bubba entered her room, smiling from ear to ear.

"Marcy! Check this out!" He held out the letter in is hands, it was pink, and fancy looking. "PB invited us to a ball, TONIGHT!". Gumball was enthusiastic, he'd spent so much time with marceline doing 'Marceline' type things that he'd hadn't been to anything like this in a long time!

Marceline, however, let out a growl from under the covers.

"SO?!" He heard her say.

" ** _So_** we're going out tonight! To a party! We need to get ready!" He was practically jumping up and down with excitement, "Man, I missed going out to parties, feels like a decade! I have a new suit I can totally try!"

"Ugh...NO! Balls are stupid..." She groaned

"C'mon marcy! We could go dancing!"

"No, balls are stupid."

"Hang out with your friends..."

"No, balls are stupid."

"Wear cool outfits?"

"NO, BALLS ARE STUPID!"

The prince crossed his arms, "C'mon marceline, I haven't been to a ball in forever, this could be the closest experience I've ever had to being home..." He was almost begging, "Please marceline?"

"No...just go by yourself..."

"But the invite says **_both_** of us, I need you." He sat down on the bed, trying to remove the covers off the vampire queen's face. "Please?"

She made another groan in protest, bubba frowned. Marceline was a stubborn girl, probably more stubborn than Fionna and Marshall combined. He wanted to go out, it wasn't like he was being shut inside her home, but he certainly didn't like being here all the time. He wanted to get out, have more fun outside of this home. The idea of a ball was amazing, It wa something he missed.

The last time he was at a ball was when...

When he left and ended up in this strange new world.

A nice night out sounded good to him.

"C'mon marceline, your a rockstar. Haven't you been to plenty of parties before?" He asked, The mound under the covers revealed the fave of a pale woman, with fangs. Her hair was in a mess and she looked unenthusiastic. She let out a huge yawn, exposing her sharp teeth.

"Bubba, there's a difference. My kinda parties don't included ball gowns, boring music, and prissy royalty spoiling the fun..."

Bubba frowned, "Gee...thanks. Y'know marceline, whether you care or not, this isn't the life i'm used to. I don't share a bed with someone, I don't go out to eat, I don't sleep all morning...". His tone grew silent, "C'mon marcy, this would mean so much to me...please?"

"Uggggghhhhhh...fine...but i'm not gonna enjoy it..." She said, throwing a pillow in the princes face.

He hugged her excitedly, knocking the wind out of her .

"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" He said, "Now we just need to find you a dress and everything!"

Marceline couldn't look any less interested.

"I don't wanna wear a dress bubba..." She groaned, "Dresses are stupid, plus, I don't even have anything that fancy...". She laid back on the bed, running a hand through her hair. "I'll just go in my jeans and hoodie okay?"

Bubba suddenly had an idea, "Hey, how about I call bonnie?! Bet she's got tons you could wear!"

"WHAT?!"

"I'll call her right now!" He said, getting off the bed and heading downstairs to use her phone.

-

Marceline made a face at bubba as she left towards the candy kingdom to greet her friend.

"See you tonight marceline!" He called out as she left.

Ugh, sometimes he really pissed her off.

But now she had to go, so she went on her way to her friend's kingdom.

"Ugh, just don't make me wear anything stupid bonnie..." She said, visioning herself in a pink dress with frills. She entered the gates of the candy kingdom, the candy princess was waiting for her, smiling brightly.

"Marceline! I'm so glad your coming to the ball tonight, I kinda thought you might stay home." She grinned.

"Bubba made me come..." She stated, "Can we just get this over with now?". She floated past her friend towards the castle, awaiting her doom.

"Well then I say bubba is a positive influence on you then."

"Whatever..."

At the arrival of the princesses bedroom, marceline immediately sat down on her bed. Crossing her arms in disapproval as the princess dug through her wardrobe in excitement. She was going through all her fancy dresses, trying to find something nice for her best friend to wear.

"We're gonna do your hair and everything, wait till bubba sees you..." She said in excitement, digging through more dresses.

"Is that what this is about...?" Marceline asked, "Really bonnie?"

"w-well...I wanted to make this ball s-so that bubba might find his home, make new friends y'know?" She said nervously.

Marceline raised an eyebrow, "Uh huh...right...". She looked at the nervous princess, "Bonnie, I though we already proved i'm right, bubba is not gonna find his home, not if it doesn't exist."

"Well, it's just to be sure...oh yeah, I forgot to ask, did he feel weird when you told him? Something as big as that would take alot out of him..."

"Er...uh great...he's fine now..." Marceline bit her lip, she still hadn't told him, and now just the thought of it made her feel awful.

Pb turned around at her friend, eyes wide, she looked angry.

"You didn't tell him the truth...did you?"

Marceline had never seen her so angry and disappointed in all her life, she scratched her head in embarrassment. "I-I well..."

"Marceline, you promised...bubba has to know where he came from..."

"But if he knows...imagine how he'd feel bonnie. I **_know_** bubba, I know what he's gone through, why he seems so sad sometimes and happy at others. He loves his home, and if I told him that it was never real, that **_he_** wasn't real...he'd hate me."

The vampire hung her head, "I don't want him to feel any worse than he already does...". She could still recall the day she found him unconscious in the middle of the woods, sad, terrified, lonely.

The thought of the time she kicked him out haunted her, just how he looked at her was enough to make her ache.

She couldn't bring herself to do it, either way wouldn't end well, she didn't want to choose either option.

PB just looked at her, she could tell marceline felt bad about her actions, whether she showed it or not. "I have something to admit too marceline...", she admitted, "this ball, was actually made for the two of you..."

Marceline looked up, "What?"

"I-I'm sorry marceline, I wanted to throw this party because...because I miss you guys. Y-you are always hanging out together..." She felt embarrassed, "I-I'm sorry, sometimes, I just get lonely up here, I miss you..."

"Sorry, we kinda haven't hung out enough since bubba came around..." Marceline said, playing with her hair in an attempt to distract herself. "I'm just kinda all he has out here and I guess I just don't want to abandon him, and I know abandonment better than anyone else..."

"I'm sorry too marcy, it was selfish..." The princess wasn't even going through her stuff anymore. She was just sitting on her bedroom floor, saddened, shoulders sagging and not exactly sure what to say next. Marceline got up off the bed and sat next to her friend, trying to comfort her, like how bubba had comforted her when she made mistakes she was guilty about.

"It's not selfish bon, we're both kinda being butts to each other lately, maybe we should all hang out sometime. Trust me, I think you and bubba have ALOT to talk about...". It was partially a joke, but it had some truth into it.

"Yeah...we should definitely do that...and next time, i'll make sure you wear something more 'casual'.." She went back to digging through the last of the dresses in her closet, leaving a huge mess all over the floor. Peppermint wouldn't enjoy having to clean this all up.

Marceline grinned, "Thanks brainlord..."

PB smiled back, "Y'know these dresses aren't 'you', I have a better idea..."

-

Bubba wasn't sure what to expect when he entered the candy kingdom gates that night, he was dressed perfectly fancy, bowtie and all. He was excited, no doubt, but he wasn't sure what kind of parties bonnie even through.

She had called and told him to meet marceline here, so he didn't know what to expect with her either.

He couldn't help but laugh nervously as he entered the castle.

He grinned.

It was beautiful, lights twinkled from the ceiling, the walls were decorated with all kinds of candy. It was full of royalty, ones that looked familiar, but gumball knew better than to approach familiar people in this world.

He took a moment to breath, take it all in.

"Thank you marceline..." He said under his breath, it felt like home, everything from the atmosphere to the people, to the clothing. This was even better than he could imagine, he needed to thank bonnibel immediately when he saw her.

And marceline.

He wandered through the ballroom, admiring everything from the food to the tiny details on the walls.

"Bubba!"

The princess pushed her way through the crowd towards the prince, wearing a lovely pink dress that seemed to shimmer in the light. She didn't hesitate to take the prince's hand and shake it.

He bowed to her.

"Bonnie, thank you for inviting me here tonight, this castle looks beautiful!" He put his hands together and smiled, showing all his teeth. "I didn't realize just how much I missed this kind of stuff!"

"My pleasure." She beamed, "Thank you for convincing marceline to come too..."

"Hey, I wouldn't go without her" He said, then the vampire queen came back to his mind, he looked around the room full of people. "So where is she anyway?"

"Still getting ready, don't worry, you'll see her soon enough..." She said excitably. She took his arm and dragged him through the crowd to the corner of the ballroom so they could talk properly. Bubba straightened out his clothes, and fixed his crown.

"You look great by the way Bonnie", He complimented, " very classy."

"Why thank you, you look quite handsome yourself, marceline is gonna love it."

"Wait, wha-?"

She smirked, "You should ask her to dance when she shows up." Gumball crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, seeing where this was going immediately. He was unamused by her attempts to set them up.

"Bonnie..."

"What?" She giggled, "Don't tell me you've never even thought of it?"

"Look...bonnibel..." He stated, sighing, "Marceline is awesome, she's an amazing girl, I-I just...I don't think it would work...". He bit his lip, thinking, he'd never considered dating marceline, not even in all the time they'd been together. He cared about her, and she did so much for him, and he found her charming, and funny, and talented...he shook his head. "Bonnie...no...I- we're just friends..."

"So were we..." She mumbled under her breath, "Me and marceline...but it's over now, it's nothing we can fix..."

Bubba looked embarrassed, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know..."

"Don't worry about it, I just think that maybe...maybe she needs someone like you in her life...someone like me, but not entirely like me.."

Bubba looked at her, not wanting to say anything, not even sure how to respond to this new information. He looked at her, speechless. It took him a few moments to muster a word in response, "B-bonnie...I-"

"Look...i'm not trying to force you two together or whatever, it's just- marceline's my best friend, and I want to see her happy again. You two, well...you both seem to really get along, you've convinced her into things I'd never though she'd do, you guys take care of each other, and she seems really happy to have someone like you around...", she felt her stomach welt up with guilt and embarrassment. "I'm sorry bubba...I shouldn't have even suggested such a thing..."

"Oh, no no..." He put his hands on her shoulders, trying his best to comfort the distressed princesses. " Look, I can't promise you right now that me and marceline will end up like that, I know you care about her. But if anything happens between us, good or bad, it should happen between **_us_** , okay?".

"Alright, fine...I'll get out of the way." She joked, "But if you too hook up, i'll give you the 'I told you so' "

"Fine..."

"OH MY GOD, IT'S MARCELINE!", Came a cry from the crowd. Awws and gasps could be heard from every side of the room, and all faces turned to see exactly where the vampire queen was.

Bubba and bonnie immediately looked around for any sight of their friend.

Marceline stood at the top of some stairs in the corner, crossing her arms and looking as if being here was complete torture. Her hair was in a rather large ponytail, she was wearing long black gloves, and an elegant dress. a dark red one sleeveless one that looked silky, it hugged her hips perfectly.

If only she actually cared about that, she felt embarrassed wearing this stupid thing. Sure, she's worn fancy things like this before, but this was certainly not for her, at least bonnie hadnt noticed she was wearing her boots under the dress yet.

Bonnie decided to have a custom dress made for her friend, something that she believed suited her.

And it was perfect.

And considering bubba's reaction to her, he felt the same.

He didn't know why, but she looked like someone knew, perhaps because he had never imagined marceline looking like this. So used to her punk, lazy attitude, that he never imagined seeing her look so...royal.

He couldn't help but look at her as she made her way towards them, ducking her head in embarrassment.

She stood in front of them, embarrassed, refusing to even look at them in the eyes. PB was giggling, "You look great marceline, red is certainly your kinda color.", Marceline responded with a glare. Bubba grinned, enjoying her cute embarrassment, perhaps because she always seemed so confident and powerful, this was an interesting change of pace from her rock star attitude.

"I think you look wonderful marceline..." He said, awkwardly. "Very nice..."

She looked up at him, "Yeah, fine, you look good too...lets just get this over with alright?"

Avoiding Bonnie's gaze, she took bubba's arm and went to the nearest corner, bonnie smirked. Marceline didn't want all these people looking at her, so she just wanted to talk to bubba privately.

She let him go.

"Bubba...this was stupid, look at me..."

He lifted her face carefully, forcing her to look at him.

He grinned.

"You look amazing..."

She felt red, she removed his hand immediately, "Can we go home bubba? I don't want people seeing me like this!." Bubba looked disappointed at her, "Why not?". She looked at him, shaking her head, "It's just not me bubba..."

"It's okay Marcy, I shouldn't have made you come..."He hugged his arms in guilt, "We can leave, if you don't feel comfortable staying..."

She bit her lip, he looked rather rad at the idea of leaving so soon. Especially since he'd been looking forward to this since he'd heard about it.

"Fine...i'll stay, but you owe me..."

He hugged her, "Thank you marceline...we'll have fun together, I promise."

He held his hand out to her, "Wanna dance?". Marceline looked at it as if it was a foreign object, he was being polite, and she wanted to take it, but dancing would only draw attention to her.

And him.

"Can we eat first? Talk?" She suggested, ignoring his hand completely. Bubba nodded, just happy they were going to stay and enjoy themselves.

They were sitting at a table, eating food off a plate together, gumball was trying to cheer her up with jokes and stories, get her mind off everything. Marceline smiled, slightly, but he still allowed her to feel more comfortable out here.

"Marceline?..." He said, "Can we talk about something serious?".

Marceline, whose mouth was full of treats, almost spit. She looked surprised, perhaps because she was still worried that any day now he would mention the books, or figure out she was lying to him. It never seemed to be the case, but it felt as if one of these days it would become a reality, and she couldn't imagine just how terrifying it would get if he found out the truth.

"Uh...sure...whats up?"

"Bonnie, you guys dated?" He asked.

Marceline spit out some strawberry, "How-?"

"Bonnie told me..."He said as politely as he could, "Is that why you guys act so weird around each other?". He didn't want to poke around so much, but ever since bonnie brought it up he felt the need to ask.

"Well...yeah...but it's fine, we're fine..." Marceline said, reassuring, "Don't even worry, we're both still buds and it's nothing you should worry about...". She was giving him an odd smile, like she was embarrassed but wanted to cover it up.

"Do you still like her...?" He said, almost rather sad.

"No...not like that anymore...it's been over for awhile."

"Oh...okay...", he suddenly felt a lot less heavy.

Marceline looked at him, studying his face, it wasn't like him to snoop into her life. She wondered what exactly Bonnie had told him in their little "Chat", if she told him the truth she was gonna kill her. But there was another thing, another thing she didn't want poking it's way through gumball's head. It was weird enough that they lived together, slept in the same bed, but now Bonnie was clearly thinking the possibility of them being a little more than friends.

She had to admit, she liked bubba, she enjoyed his presence, how much he cared for her, that he was so forgiving, that he spent so much of his time doing things for her instead of searching for his home, that he made such food for her, that he enjoyed spending so much time with her...

That he missed her, wanted to stay with her...

She felt herself grow red.

"Marcy?", Bubba's hand was waving in front of her face, trying to snap her out of whatever trance she was in.

She woke immediately, "Oh...uh, bubba...sorry, I was just thinking about stuff...".

He grinned, sticking out his tongue, "Awwwwww, what were you thinking about marce?". She pushed his face away lightly, laughing, "Sorry you, that's private..."

"You guys are so cute..." Bonnie took a seat at the table, she looked at bubba. "So, see anyone you might recognize?", maybe he wasn't real, but she still had to give him some hope until marceline broke down the truth to them.

"Well yes and no..." He said, truthfully. "I see people I think I know, but they don't seem to know me..."

"Well...how about you guys dance?", She said, winking, "and don't try to get out of it Marceline, this my my party and i'm having you guys take the first dance."

Bubba stood up, "Thats good enough for me...", he held out his hand towards the vampire queen, with puppy dog eyes. "Milady? Would you like to dance?", it's been awhile since he's danced with someone, but he was sure he could manage.

Marceline took his hand, "Ugh...just...lets get this over with..."

He awkwardly lead her to the center of the dance floor, and positioned himself in front of her, taking one hand in his and putting another on her waist. She tensed, feeling eyes on her, but reluctantly put her other hand on his shoulder.

"Bubba...they're freaking looking at us..." She whispered, angrily.

'Whoa...hey", He was speaking very calmly, "Marceline...look at me...". The vampire queen pouted, and tried to look him in the eyes to the best of her ability. He gave her a faint smile, "Don't worry about all of them alright? Right now, it's just you and me."

Marceline gulped.

"You know how to dance right?" He asked, desperately hoping she did have an idea what to do.

"Yeah...whatever..."

He held her tight, and they started to dance, marceline wasn't exactly making much of an attempt. Looking bored and embarrassed, she wasn't even following his moves. Bubba was irritated, but that didn't stop him from trying. He was twirling her playfully and dipping her, she looked irritated with him whenever he did so, he gave her a mischievous smirk at her irritated expression.

He liked messing with her.

Well two can play at that game...

Marceline suddenly changed positions, taking over and dipping bubba before he knew what was even happening. She couldn't resist smirking at his reddened face, "Sorry princey, but I wear the pants around here..."

He gave a weak smile, loss for words.

They continued to dance, marceline was actually smiling and laughing now, they both were. Messing with each other and cracking jokes about the other's lousy skills as they continued to dance, they didn't even notice that they were no longer the only ones on the floor.

When the song ended, both almost looked sad to stop.

Marcy was going to ask to go again, until she heard some whispering from the audience.

 _"Look at those two..."  
_  
 _"What a weird couple..."_

 _"I wonder which one of them is the girlfriend?"_

Bubba hadn't noticed.

"Again?" He said, excitably, still clutching onto her hand.

"I-...I uh..." She mumbled nervously, she let go of his hand immediately, "No...I want to go home...".

"Wha-?"

"I **** ** _said_** , I want to go home now bubba!" She said, more aggressively. He looked surprised at her aggressive actions, "Marceline, is everything alright?".

"No...I-I'm going home, you can stay here if you want...but i'm leaving..." She refused to look as him as she marched her way out of the castle in her dress, bubba couldn't even tell that she was crying as she left.

Bonnie walked up to the shocked prince standing in the middle of the dance floor.

"Bubba..." She said.

He looked at the floor, sadly.

"I'm going after her...she's all I have out here..."

"I'm sorry about the party..."

"There will be plenty of parties, but there is only one marceline..." He said, Before turning to the princess. He looked sad, but he still managed to put a smile on his face, "Thank you for inviting me tonight, for inviting both of us, I can't remember the last time I've had this much fun at a party." He proceeded to walk towards the exit, but before he left, he stopped and turned towards the princess once last time.

"And bonnie...?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you, she looked beautiful..."

He ran off on his way back home.

"Good luck..." Bonnie said, watching him leave.

-

Marceline kicked the wall of her bedroom, screaming in anger.

"UGH! What's wrong with you!?" She yelled, hissing. "Why did you force me to act like that!? To make me look like THIS?! To make me..."

She sniffled

"like you..."

She put her back against the wall, her hands came over her eyes as she cried, she slid to the floor. She felt so awful, miserable all over, a headache was growing and she felt sick to her stomach.

She didn't know why she left, she felt so confused.

WHY?! Why did she?!

"Marceline?", Came a call from downstairs.  
 _  
Bubba..._

"Marceline, i'm coming up, I want to talk to you..."

Marceline didn't even make an attempt to get up, to block the entrance, or hide in the bathroom, or even answer with a insult.

She felt so...weak.

Bubba didn't hesitate to go up the ladder into their room, and when he saw the queen huddled up against the wall, he gasped. "Marceline!..." He said, softly, running over to her and getting on his knees.

She continued to cry.

"Marceline...please talk to me..." He said, "what happened...at the ball?"

"Just go back to the party..." She grumbled, "thats where you really want to be..."

He shook his head, "No...you matter so much more to me than any dumb party, I'm not leaving you..."

She looked at him sadly.

"Do I embarrass you?" He asked, "Is that why you left?"

"What? No...bubba, I-I just couldn't handle it..." She mumbled sadly.

"handle what?"

"Bubba...they make fun of me for being around you, for thinking that we're 'together', like that..."

He grew silent, blushing at the thought of just how many people had been looking at them, thinking that they had been a couple rather than than friends. "Is it really that bad...being with me?"

"W-what no!"

"So your not bothered by the idea of dating me?"

"No...I-I just...my relationships in the past have been terrible bubba...and...", She didn't finish her sentence, "Forget it...".

Bubba hugged her, pulling her close to his chest, petting her hair.

"It's okay...", he said, "I'm sorry I made you go out today...I shouldn't have forced you to do this kinda thing with me..."

"No...it was so much fun bubba, like...alot of fun..." She admitted, "I-I really want to do it with you again sometime...I'm glad you convinced me into going, even if it was a little wierd at first."

"That sounds like fun marceline..." He said, smiling softly.

"Your amazing bubba..." She admitted, "I know you want to thank me for all of this...but I think it's kinda the other way around. You've much more for me these past months than i've ever done for you..."

He released her, looking into her eyes, "I wish I could stay...with you, have days like this forever". He leaned in close, marceline felt herself grow red, until she felt something warm kiss her cheek. He smiled, "Thank you for tonight, I'm so sorry you felt hurt, but i'm glad you came with me, You look beautiful..."

She had no words as he stood up, pulling her up with him.

"Hey...lets just both get some sleep, It's been a long day for us...maybe some rest will help us both for now."

"Uhhh...yeah..." She said, she felt as if her cheek was glowing.

"I'll let you change first, call if you need me...okay? I care about you, and I want you to be alright."

He was about to head down the ladder until...

"Hey bubba?"

"Yeah?"

"I-I...never mind..."

He went down the ladder, and the vampire queen placed a hand on the spot where he kissed her. Realizing the real reason she couldn't handle that scene in the ballroom, not because of the people, or bonnie, or the dress.

It was because of him.

She felt the spot one last time.

Maybe Bonnie's idea wasn't as weird as she once thought...

 **Happy New Year Guys!**

 **See You Next Year!**


	11. Her New Wingman

"You like him..." Bubblegum teased, going through her notes on her desk.

"Pfffftt...no..." Marceline denied quickly, "W-we just...he's just cool..."

"Yeah right...you like him marceline", bubblegum snickered. "And I think he likes you too, you should've seen his face when he saw you." She snickered at the thought of bubba shocked, fascinated expression.

Marceline crossed her arms, "Yeah right..."

The princess raised her eyebrows, she had a permanent grin on her face. She knew marceline wasn't going to admit anything like that to her, but she knew marceline better than most people, and she knew when she was crushing.

"He kissed your cheek", She mentioned, "Bet you wished it'd been your lips..."

"Shut it..."

Marceline was visiting Bonnie this afternoon, she told bubba she needed some ' Girl Time', with her best friend. Bubba decided he'd go explore the candy kingdom and pick up some stuff while they hung out, and make some food when she got back.

Marceline regretted telling her about last night, but then again, pb would've probably got it out of bubba if she wanted to. Besides, she **_did_** agree to spend more time with her friends, this this was probably karma anyways...

"Marceline...if you like him, you better ask him out before someone else does. After last night, i'm sure plenty of people would take him away from you...", messing with marceline's mind was becoming a new favorite hobby.

"Very funny..." She grunted, then she suddenly though of bubba, and his kind face, and how much fun they had last night. She smiled, before she grabbed her hair in frustration,  
"Ugh...NO! Bonnie...I-I **_can't_** like him...I-"

"Why not?"

"Because he's not real..." She said sadly, "We just...we just can't let that happen alright?"

"Marceline, he is real, at least he's real now...whose to say you two couldn't become something right now?"

"Bonnie...I just-"

"What?"

"What if I hurt him? I hurt you before, and...he's been hurt so many times before..."

Marceline hugged herself, till she felt Bonnie hug her close.

"Look, just tell him you like him and see where it goes, it doesn't hurt to try right?" She suggested.

"I-I guess...I-Just-"

"Just ask him out, promise me you'll try?"

"Fine...if it gets you to can it already..."

"Good girl..." The princess patted her friend gently on the head, giggling. She immediately went back to her work, pouring some oddly colored substance into another and taking notes on it. She was still making progress in discovering bubba's existence, but she had to continue work on her kingdom as well. And in her eyes, her kingdom still came first, even before bizarre pink princes from fictional stories.

Marcy huffed, she didn't know what she was supposed to say to bubba, she was already guilty about not telling him where her came from. How was she supposed to ask him out? Especially since he never seemed so... ** _interested_** in her?

She was getting a headache from all of this lousy "girl talk".

Sure she spent a lot of time talking about bubba, and taking care of him, and reading about him, but that meant nothing? Right?

RIGHT?!

Ugh, if it meant bonnie would stop trying to pair them together, she'd do it. Maybe she'd just, ask him to an event or something, not quite a date, but close enough just to see if anything "Sparked."

Last night had been the most awkward night of her entire life, she slept on the couch last night. Sleeping next to bubba, especially after and event like that, wasn't exactly a comforting feeling. In fact, she doubted they would ever have a normal moment together after that.

Lost in thought, she didn't notice bonnie warning her before it was too late.

 ** _BOOM_**

The princesses vial exploded, causing a massive pink cloud.

"UGH I CAN'T SEE!, the vampire queen growled furiously.

"SORRY MARCELINE!" The princess called out in the pink mist, "I'll open a window..."

When the pink mist cleared, marceline noticed pink stains were all over the room. The princess shrugged, "Sorry marceline...my bad...i'll get some maids on it right away and-". She started laughing, at **_marceline_**.

Marceline looked down at her body, she was covered in pink, her hair, her skin, and her clothes.

"CAN IT BON!" She shouted at the princess.

"Looks like someone needs a bath and wardrobe change..." Bonnie smirked, "Unless you want to go on your date like __ _ **that**_..."

"Ha...ha..."

"Just use my bathroom, and you can borrow one of my my outfits for now..." She said plainly, already starting to use a brush to clean up the broken glass. "I suggest you finish up soon, cause i'm sure bubba will want you to come home soon..."

"Ugh..." The vampire slammed the lab door on her way out, great, this day just got better and better.

-

"Come on out marceline...I want to see you..." The princess joked, waiting outside her closet.

"Come on bon...you sure you don't have anything better I can wear?", a voice came from on the other side of the closet door.

"Well, you tried on plenty of outfits, that one is probably the most "You" of any of them." She crossed her arms, and tapped her foot, becoming impatient with the vampire queen. Marceline had never always been the most "Reliable" person around, but that wasn't gonna stop Bonnie from turning that around.

"Come on marceline, you look great, I promise..."

The closet door opened, and a disgruntled vampire came out. She wore a pink jacket, a light purple blouse, and some matching purple jeans. Bonnie had struggled to comb out her hair and put it in a nice braid for her.

"See? you look cute..."

The vampire blushed, "I better..."

"you **** ** _do_** , I promise..."

"Bonnie, I don't think I can do it...ask him out. I haven't dated in like...forever" She looked optimistic about this whole situation.

"All the more reason to get back in the game...", bubblegum said proudly. "Pfffft, c'mon, if you can handle the vampire king, you can handle a date...". Bonnie smirked proudly, and marceline pouted. She stuck her hands inside of the jacket pockets, and put her hood up over her head. "I don't wanna go...I look like the candy kingdom threw up on me", She sat down on the bed.

"Marcy...c'mon, get a move on...", Pb tried to drag her friend off of her pink bed, but without much luck. Vampires were strong individuals, and there was no doubt marceline would be using her abilities to get out of awkward situations.

And this was no exception

"Ugh...no, i'm not going out there..."

"Marcy...", she kneeled in front of the vampire queen, and removed her hood, allowing her hair and ears to be exposed once again. "Look...it's okay if your nervous, but you know bubba, he wont treat you badly if you try..."

"Yeah...but It's still weird..." She mumbled.

"You've done weirder..."

"Yeah but..."

"Marceline look at me...", she lifted the vampires chin to look her her. "The reason I'm doing this is cause I want you to be happy again...", She let out a sigh, "I know your lonely living out there, you need someone..."

"I appreciate the help Pbubs...I just don't think I can pull it off, you wanna know how awkward last night was for me? I don't even think I have the ability to look at bubba the same way again...", her mouth formed a grin, "Not complaining though..."

"Just act natural, like...ask him to a concert or something, something casual."

Marceline bit her lip, fangs piercing her lower lip, "I mean, I guess that's sorta okay, bubba likes music...". She shrugged, still unsure of what she should do, but if she liked him, this was certainty better than going on some stupid romantic date.

At least there would be music.

Marceline nodded, "Alright, but if it turns out we're not right for each other afterwards i'm blaming it on you."

"Agreed...now go get your man girl!"

"Ha ha..." She growled, "Here's to humiliating myself..."

"Your gonna do fine...don't worry."

Marceline got up off the bed, straightening herself out, "Hey...could you come with me? Y'know? join us for dinner?". Bonnie looked taken aback at the invite, she hadn't spent enough time with either bubba or marceline lately, and now she was being invited to hang out with the both of them.

"Um, well...sure. Why not? I'll back you up girl...", she rubbed her hands together, "Sounds lovely..."

"If i'm gonna do this, i'll feel better with you there..."

Bonnie gave her a cheeky grin, "Sure, i'll be your "Wing Man", bubba make good food?"

" ** _Very_** good food...", marceline licked her lips.

"Then let's go shall we?"

-

Bubba was enthusiastic at the prospect of having a guest over, it'd been just him and marceline for such a long period of time. And although that wasn't a bad thing, he enjoyed more company, the more the merrier.

So when bonnie called and told him she'd be eating with him and marceline, he immediately started cleaning up the house, picking up marceline's dirty laundry and Schwabl's fur off the couch. He then went straight to making dinner for three, tonight's meal, Spaghetti, and cherry pie.

Marceline's favorite.

He hummed to himself, thinking about...things.

Over a month ago he thought about nothing but getting home.

Now he thought about being here.

He thought about marceline, and about last night, how hurt and sad she'd been. How he manged to help her, how much fun they had together, that she was glad that he convinced her to accompany him to the ball.

That he kissed her cheek, that bonnie was trying to hook them up, that people thought that they were dating.

He felt himself grow red.

He didn't like admitting how much he loved it here, it only made him feel more guilty about abandoning his home. These days, he almost felt like pretending he had no home to get back to, like it never existed. But that only made him feel worse, the guilt never let up, no matter what, he couldn't help but feel terrible about what he did.

Even if did allow him to meet marceline...

He haven't seen much of her this morning, he woke up in her bed alone, and found her snoring downstairs on her hard couch. They ate breakfast rather quietly, probably still thinking about the night before. Marceline mumbled something about her visiting bonnie, _alone_ today, and him checking out the candy kingdom. It was almost as if she didn't feel comfortable having him in the same room anymore.

He breathed out a sigh, last night was by far the most unusual encounter between them in a long time. Weirder than the day they met, the day he accidentally grabbed her hand, the night he cuddled up to her, and the time at the cafe.

Nothing beat last night.

If he didn't know better, he'd probably assume they were dating too.

Sigh

He finished cooking the noodles and put them through a strainer, the sauce was ready and the pie was still baking.

He just needed the girls.

Hopefully tonight would go just fine, if he doesn't screw it all up.

"YO BUBBA I'M HOME!"

The door swinged open and two ladies walked into the house, one dressed in pink, the other...dressed in pink? Bubba needed a second to blink at the sight in front of him, marceline...was dressed in pink? He could've sworn that's not she looked the last time he saw her. The only other time she wore pink was when she borrowed his hoodie, otherwise, he didn't think she'd wear pink at all.

Although, he did have to admit, she did look kinda cute like that.

"Greetings ladies..." He chuckled, "I-I uh, made food...y-you guys wanna head on into the kitchen and take a seat?". He playfully pretended to take their coats and led them to the dining table in marceline's kitchen.

They took a seat, and he faced the food sitting on the stove. Trying to find an excuse to stop staring at marceline, she looked so embarrassed and girly and too precious for him to handle, he wanted to tease her but with a guest here, especially one who was trying to hook them up, it would be a little weird.

"So, um, whats with the new threads?" He asked politely, still with his back turned.

"There...kinda was a lab accident, Marcy is borrowing my clothes..." She replied simply, then she smirked, "Like them bubba?". She was going to be Marcy's "Wingman" this evening, make sure Marcy gained the courage to ask bubba out.

"Oh...well, yeah, they're cute..." He replied.

Cute? Just _**Cute**_?

Marceline made a pouty face to bubba's backside, questioning why she was even doing this again. She'd make a fool of herself if she asked out bubba and he didn't feel the same way, and bonnie would be to blame.

This could ruin everything between them.

"I don't know bubs, I don't think pink is really my color..." she mentioned, watching him, she wanted to see if she could get a reaction out of him. Unfortunately, he didn't want to look at her.

"Hey...uh...you okay peeg?" She drawled, "Cause I kinda thought we were gonna eat face to face?". Bubba, embarrassed, slowly turned around to face the girls. He smiled in a strange way, or, at least it was strange to bonnibel.

Marceline knew this was the face he made when he was hiding something.

She leaned back in her chair, putting her arms behind her head. "What's with the face bubs?", she asked, eyebrow raised.

"Nothing...nothing..." He replied, trying to act natural again.

Bonnibel watched the scene in front of her, nether one was acknowledging her, and their actions towards each other clearly meant things were tense between them currently. Probably from last night, and they both were probably still thinking about it. She almost wanted to take notes of the scene as if it was one of her own experiments, she couldn't help but grin, who knew there was so much scientific reasoning with relationships?

This was probably how they treated each other most often, but she'd never seen much of it herself.

They almost acted like some married couple, but also like bros.

It was cute.

"Well, then you guys..." She piped up, "Why don't we eat some grub? I think it's fair to say we all had a long day...". The hosts looked at her before snapping out of it and getting ready for dinner.

"Oh...right..." Bubba immediately got the food out and ready to eat, "Here...you guys grab some noodles and sauce, I'll wait for the pie, it's almost done."

"Alright..."

Bonnie hand't been to an weirder event in her life.

Her best friend/Ex, was having her play her wing man to her new roommate, who was a fictional character, based off herself. Marceline was wearing her clothes and blushing whenever bubba talked to her, and he would mumbled awkwardly when he caught her staring at him.

Nope, nothing tops this.

Bonnie was the one who made those moments less awkward, with stories or jokes. But there was no doubt these two wouldn't be having to much fun without her here, she wondered what it would take to get marceline to ask him out.

Clearly more than this, considering just how _**well**_ this was going currently.

She just needed to give them the right push...

"So Marcy, did you have a great time last night?", Bonnie said, smirking, "You and bubba were having alot of fun dancing out there...". Marceline shot her a glare, bubba presented a small smile.

"Yeah...it was fun, and whatever...", she dug her head into her food.

"It was alot of fun bonnie..." Bubba said, politely. "Tell me when your next one is, I would absolutely love to do that again...", he eyed marceline, "Marceline did such a great job, and your food was excellent..."

"Thank you..."

"Yeah, well...", Marceline drawled, "You were much better, those aren't my kind of parties..."

"Well..." Bonnie, winked, "Maybe you could take bubba to one of "Your kind of parties", and have some fun together?". Bubba nodded in approval, "Y'know, that might actually be kind of fun...I mean, I've been to Marshall's parties before, but they can get kind of out of hand...", he chuckled, remembering the time a wild bear came up on stage and terrorized everyone. "I bet one of your parties would be really fun...", he was trying to flatter her.

"Yeah...I guess..."

He bit his lip and finally asked what he wanted to ask the entire day, "Marceline...is everything alright? You've been so strange lately..."

"I'm fine bubba...you don't need to be so concerned...", she said in a "No, i'm not fine" voice.

Bubba, concerned , reached out and touched her shoulder. This made her jump, "Bubba...don't", she brushed it off with her hand.

"Marceline...if it's about last night, i'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to upset you or hurt you y'know?", even bonnie looked concerned, what was up with marceline? She looked upset and rather frustrated, she was barely eating, and marceline not eating wasn't a normal sign.

"Bubba, I think i'm done eating, why don't you cut the pie up? I want to talk with marceline...", she stood up immediately, "Alone...". Bubba himself looked a little confused and a slight bit left out, but he still obeyed. Bonnie dragged marceline outside onto her porch, which was harder to do than she thought.

"Marceline, what's going on?", she asked, hands on her friend's shoulders.

"I can't..."

"You can't what?"

"I can't do this, and you can't make me! I can't brush this all off bonnibel, I **_lied_** to him, he's never gonna get home and I keep giving him hope! I don't care if I like him or not, cause he's never gonna be happy with me! I can't forgive myself for lying to him, what do you think will happen to him when he figures out the truth huh?!", She was almost yelling, she kept quiet to ensure that bubba couldn't hear them.

"Marcy, I-I just want you to be happy..."

"But I **_can't_** be happy bon!", she hissed, "Us being together...like that...can only end in disaster. Bubba means alot to me alright?", She was slowly calming down, tears dripping down her cheek. "I-I never realized that I needed someone like that in my life till he entered it, and now that he's here, I don't want to risk losing him. I want to tell him the truth, but it'll kill me if I do, and it'll kill me if I don't..."

Bonnie was speechless.

"Look, bubba,...maybe I do like him like that...it's just...I don't want to..."

She was crying into her hands now, completely distraught.

Bonnie took a moment before responding.

"Hey...you know, I think you should tell him. The truth, I mean...", she smiled sadly, "Bubba...he'd understand, he really cares about you, and I don't think he wants to lose you just as much as you don't want to lose him..."

"But bonnie..."

"It's better if he knows and you told him the truth, than him finding out on his own and realizing you were hiding it from him..."

Marceline looked inside her home through her window, bubba was sitting at the table, alone. He looked bored, and even a little sad, usually when he did Marcy herself would step in and cheer him up. She didn't want to make a choice, but maybe bonnie was right, she'd been hiding it too long.

"Fine, we'll go out together privately, and i'll tell him then...", she let out a huge sigh, "Thank you bonnie...y'know, you aren't a great wing man, but you are a great friend". Bonnie, hugged her, "When you two get married, don't think I won't be like, "I told you so" though."

"Ha ha...", she said, sarcastically, wiping the last of her tears. She looked through the window again, "I'm gonna go in there alone and talk to him alright? Give me a few minutes or so, then come in, make up some dumb excuse...like you were peeing outside or something..."

Now it was bonnie's turn to grumble, "Just get in there you..."

-

Marceline closed the door behind her as she entered, she made her way to gumball, who brightened at the sight of her return.

"OH marceline! Is everything alright?", he asked, face still in concern.

She smiled, glad to know he was thinking of her, normally his thoughts seemed to consist of home and baking. She sat down in the chair next to him, "Bubba, i'm fine, me and bonnie talked...and i-i'm good now..."

"Oh, thank goodness...", his face lit up to it's usual grin.

"Bubba...can we talk...about last night?", she said, scratching her check, and speaking in an awkward tone.

"Um, sure marceline!" He said, "What's up?"

"Look, i'm sorry about giving you the cold shoulder all day alright? T-the kiss just caught me off guard...and I guess I just felt slightly weird about it...". Bubba chuckled, "Heh, I know the feeling, i'm sorry..."

"Oh no no...your good bro, **_I_** overreacted, you were just being nice...and I sorta took it too seriously...", she was trying to hide behind her hair to avoid looking so stupid, but she only felt more embarrassed.

It's like she was whole different person when she spoke to him.

"It's fine marceline, it's fine...i'm just glad your alright...", he leaned in, trying to kiss her cheek, but stopped immediately.

"Er...am I allowed...?"

Marceline smirked, "Go ahead, I won't bite..."

He kissed her cheek softly, "Dork..." he snickered, "Y'know, if you want...I'd like to go to one of your parties...". They were both smiling now, relieved that things were "Almost" back to normal.

"Yeah...y'know, I think maybe it's about time you see me perform, onstage?"

"Yeah...that sounds lovely..."

"It's a date then?"

"Uh...", his eyes grew at the mention of the word, "Date."

Nonetheless, he agreed.

"Yeah...lets's go.."

Bonnie walked inside, time was up, she looked delighted to see the two of them looking so happy together.

"So...shall we have dessert? And maybe watch a movie before I head home?"

No one disagreed to that.

Marceline ate the pie as if she'd never eat again, savoring it's taste of red. Bubba knew her too well sometimes, it was sweet, cherry pie was her favorite. Bubba and bonnibel barely finished their one slice.

A date? They were going on a **** ** _date_**?

He didn't know whether to be happy or not , whether it was a real date, or another one of their daily "Bud Time" events.

Either way, he was going to make sure he didn't screw it up.

He and marceline sat next to each other on her hard couch, well, **_he_** sat, marceline floated. Bonnie sat on the floor in front of them, wanting to give them "Space", to bubba's confusion and marceline's amusement.

Bubba shifted uncomfortably on the couch, feeling stiff and rather unhappy. Marceline taking note of this, or rather feeling bubba constantly nudge her in an attempt to get comfortable, transformed herself into a giant bat. She pulled bubba to sit on her lap, he looked scared at first, but then he smiled in gratitude.

He cuddled up against her soft fur, like a pillow.

"Marceline...?"

"Yeah...?"

"I think your wonderful..."

Marceline grew red, soft snores now came from the prince.

"Yeah...I think your pretty rad too..."

Bonnibel, not even paying attention to the movie, grinned.

 **Sorry this chapter is so short, I am currently lacking in ideas about where to go with this story lately.**

 **I'm always open to your ideas if you have any.**

 **I'll see you guys next chapter, and hopefully it will be much longer for you all.**

 **If you guys have any ideas for their date, feel free to tell me.**

 **Bye!**


	12. I'm Sorry

**Chapter ideas by Mysterious-Thingy on Tumblr**

_

"okay...relax bubba, we're just having a nice night out...", the prince straightened out his dark jacket and neon green shirt.

"It's not a date...we're just...hanging out...alone...together...", he said, reassuring himself in front of the bathroom mirror. He'd taken a shower, combed his hair, made an attempt to look his best for the night. His beanie just barely fit most of his hair, with few strands sticking out.

He dint know what to wear to an occasion like this, but this was probably good enough.

Marceline's concerts were probably really fun, casual parties anyway.

He couldn't wait to hear her onstage, in front of so many fans, with her band. It would be a sight to see, indeed.

He hoped he looked good enough for her, he didn't want to stand out, not that he didn't already kinda stand out.

He didn't know where they were going, he didn't know what to expect, he only knew that this was going to be quite a night.

With one last sigh, he left the bathroom and headed down the ladder, marceline had left early in order to set up with her band, so he was going to be meeting her there, at least bonnie was lending him her morrow so he could find the concert much easier.

He'd been to concerts before, mainly Marshall's, and they tended to get a little out of hand. He could only hope marceline's presence there would lead to a different experience, or at least, allow him to return home in one piece. He didn't know whether the nerves he was having were either from this possibly being a "date"", or that he was worried that something would go completely wrong.

He could only hope.

He left after grabbing a snack, and mounted himself on the princess's bird, who'd been waiting for him. He remembered his own morrow at home, one very similar to this one, but at this pint, he just ignored all of that.

It only took minuets to arrive, the concert took place in a forest, the prince spotted a large wooden stage and lanterns everywhere. There were plenty of crew members still setting up, and he recognized marceine's band mates sitting on the stage, tuning up their instruments.

He unmounted the morrow, who flew off immediately, and searched for marceline through the crowd.

he hadn't seen her for quite some time, and was eager to see how she was doing.

He spotted a long trail of raven hair from the corner of his eye and followed it backstage.

"Marceline! I-"

She turned around, eating an apple.

Marceline was wearing a ripped sleeveless dress, with a spiked belt, and fishnet gloves. She also wore long striped socks, and boots, making her looks even more "Marceline-Like". Bubba gulped, she looked pretty good, I guess punk really was her style.

She smirked at the sight of him, "Hey...you cleaned up good...", she grinned at his outfit.

"You...you like?"

"Course..."

He blushed, "Er...thank you, you look...dangerous..."

She ruffled his hair through his hat, "Thanks dude...I hope you'll have fun tonight...". Marceline bit her lip, tonight was it, she was finally going to do it, spill the beans, tell him about the books.

She could only hope to make the night the most fun it could be beforehand.

Before she broke it to him.

"With you here...it'd be hard for me to feel miserable..." He said, "I'm exciting to finally see you live, I bet your awesome!". The vampire queen only shrugged in response, "We've been on a few tours, bonnie joined us once, we're pretty good, I suppose..."

"We'll i'm really glad you invited me to this, I'm sure it'll be really fun..."

"Don't you get invited to these things kinda often though?", she asked, shrugging. "I mean, i'm not judging you, i guess i just thought since you were a prince...you'd be kinda popular and stuff...", what was she doing? She read a lot about bubba, she should know this kind of thing. She tensed, a little embarrassed all of a sudden for asking such a ridiculous question, "Uh...sorry..."

"No...no, it's fine, but no..." He chuckled slightly, "I guess not many people think to invite me to this kind of stuff often back home...well, besides my friends...". He shrugged, "Don't worry about it...i'm glad to be here..."

He reached into his pocket, "I wasn't sure if i should bring you something or not...but er...", he pulled out a rose from his pocket, "This is for you...". She took it slowly, he already gotten rid of the thorns, it was also fresh.

"Thank you...that...it's nice..."

They both shared a moment of silence between them, not sure what to say next to each other.

Bubba shuffled his feet, something he grew to do whenever he was nervous or embarrassed, he only hoped marceline wouldn't notice. Unfortunately, marceline had grown to notice his movements, and it was clear he was definitely flustered right now.

She chuckled, trying to break the awkward tension, "You uh...wanna meet my band?"

"Yeah...i'd love to...", he said rather quickly, anything to break the awkward silence. Marceline motioned for him to follow her towards the front of the stage, 3 characters were sitting on the edge of it, legs hanging off.

"Yo..."

They turned around immediately, and high five'd the vampire queen.

Marceline turned towards her guest, "bubba, meet Kelia, Bongo, and Guy...the Scream Queens in the flesh..."

Bubba shook their hands, "It's a pleasure to meet you all, i'm marceline's roommate...". Marceline shrugged towards her band, "He's living with me till he gets back home...he's pretty cool and stuff...". They all looked at her in question, clearly noticing he resembled the pink princess that toured with them many years ago. Marceline gave them a look that said, "I'll explain later".

The band spent some time showing bubba their instruments, marceline excused herself into her dressing room to "Pee".

"bubba, remember that book of Simon's? I think your from it..."

 ** _No..._**

"Bubba, your not gonna be able to get home, it's fictional..."

 _Ugh...no_

"Bubba, your never gonna be able to see your friends again, they aren't real..."

 _Oh glob no..._

The vampire paced back and forth, frustrated. How was she going to do this? He wouldn't believe her, and what if he did something crazy? What if he hurt himself? What if he panicked and did something drastic?

She felt panicked, stressed.

Normally she'd be excited for a concert, but not tonight. Her mind was clouded with horrible thoughts, she could only hope they didn't become realities, she took in a deep breath. There had to be some way to break it to him gently, she wanted to use the books, but she almost wondered if bubba would think she made them up.

There had to be something, bubba was a smart cookie...

She'd break it to him gently, pull him aside after the concert, and tell him the truth...

And if he didn't believe her...

She'd use the books as proof.

It'd have to work for now, she was fresh out of ideas...

KNOCK KNOCK

"Marceline? everything alright...?"

It was bubba.

"Yeah...uh...it's cool...i'll be out in a sec..."

She frantically tried to straighten herself out, breathing in, and smiling rather falsely. She opened the door and greeted bubba, "Hey...uh, sorry I took so long...I needed that...", she walked past bubba quickly so he didn't notice her fake smile. Her bands mates were almost done setting up their instruments, they greeted her as she returned. Bubba followed her soon after.

He looked at her suspiciously, marceline was sure acting strange tonight, and he wasn't quite sure it was for the same reasons as he was.

"Hey, you guys..." Bubba said, "Your lucky to have marceline around, she's a great Singer, from what I've heard...". He took marceline shoulder from behind her, "She's done such a good job of helping me out this month in a half, and I really am excited to be here for her tonight. if you guys need any help, I promise i'll be here, anything for marceline..."

He grinned, "And that means **_you_** marceline, you can tell me anything...alright?"

He **_knew_** something was up...

"Yeah bubba...I will...", she said, not exactly sounding very sure that she actually would.

Bubba went backstage to help some of the crew set up, allowing marceline to talk to her band mates, or rather, explain bubba. "Look, i found him in the woods, he was injured and stuff, so i took him in and he kinda ended up staying with me, till he gets home...we're roommates..". She wanted to tell them the truth about him, but they wouldn't believe her, she knew them too well, they'd think she was joking.

"That's cool", Guy said, "Nice you helped the dude out, he seems alright.."

"Yeah, girl, you guys hang out?" Kelia asked, "You two seem to get along..."

"Yeah, we're cool," She answered, "We've had some struggles, but overall he's pretty alright, he can cook, his food is pretty sweet, you should try some someday...". This perked up bongo immediately, "Really he's good? Next concert, have him bring up some snacks, I get hungry before concerts."

"Oh we know you do bongo...", Kelia elbowed him, being a ghost, it passed through his body.

Marceline laughing, playing with her hair, "Bubba is also pretty dang talented actually, I heard him sing once...he's good..."

"Does he play any instruments?", Guy asked.

"He's good at piano from what he told me..."

"He can be your replacement Guy," Kelia teased.

"Ha ha..."

"Well, maybe someday, he could show you his skills, he's seriously good..." Marceline gloated, " He's kinda awkward, but he's cool, and I guess he's kinda funny in an awkward sort of way." Marceline watched bubba from afar as he helped a crew member set up some stage lights, "And he's kinda smart and stuff, I mean, probably not as crazy smart as bonnie, but smart enough..."

"Marcy, doesn't your house only have one bed?", Guy asked, "Where does he sleep..?"

Marceline looked flustered, "Well, he sorta...maybe...ended up sharing the bed with me?". She grinned awkwardly, shrugging, "Don't worry about it though, it's only as friends, we don't cuddle...normally..."

They all burst into laughter, Kelia raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it's good to know you two are **_close_**...", she joked, " Well, considering he's still alive, i suppose him living with you is fine...as long as he gets home eventually..."

"Well, yeah...i-i'm just not sure he'll get home...", marceline said, honestly. "What'll happen then...?"

"Well, i'm sure you'll work something out marce...you don't seem to mind living with him anyway..."

"True..."

"Marcy, your a smart girl...figure something out..", Kelia said. "as long as you both are satisfied and you don't end up eating the guy it's fine..."

"Although, to be honest..." Guy said, "He's made of candy right? Shouldn't bonnie know him?". He was giving her a questioning look, in all fairness, that would be an obvious solution to the problem. But that was clearly not what was going on...

"I tried...he's not from there...he's from...another candy kingdom I guess?", she playfully shrugged.

"Another candy kingdom...hmm..."

"Oh, can it Guy..." Kelia interrupted, to marceline's inner delight, "The point is, he's a lost puppy marcy is taking care of, and he needs help...". She leaned back, relaxing, " marceline, ignore him, I think what your doing is great..."

"Thank kei...I hope it is..."

Bubba returned to the group, "Heh, sorry...my assistance was needed, did I miss much?"

They all chuckled.

-

Bubba and the band snacked on their backstage buffet, they were going to be on shortly.

Marceline tuned her bass, ready to get out there and kill it, bubba was finishing up his strawberry. He'd have to get out into tje crowd pretty soon, but he didn't want to leave until he wished marceline luck.

He only hoped he wouldn't get lost in that crowd, there must have been over 1,000 people out there, or at least it looked like it.

But marceline promised he'd get the best seat in the house, being her "special guest".

Marceline finished tuning her instrument to find bubba waiting for her, with a small smile she walked towards him. He shuffled his feet nervously, feeling a little shyer under her gaze, it was cute.

"So this is it huh?" He said, "I'm really nervous, you sure i'll be fine on my own?"

"Course bubbs, you know I wouldn't let anything happen to you out there..." She promised, "You'll be fine...i'll see you later alright?"

"Alright...", and before she could protest, he pulled her into a hug, "Good luck out there vampire queen...". He dug his face into her neck, clinging on to her like he'd never see her again, "I'll see you afterwards.."

She hugged him back, "Yeah bro, don't miss me too much alright?".

They hugged for a solid few minutes before parting, bubba kissing her cheek before wishing her luck one last time.

"Find me in the audience alright? I'll be the one supporting you the most..." He said, looking at her one last time before leaving the backstage. He carefully me his way through the crowd, being marceline's guest had some perks, perks consisting of good seats in the front row, and protection around them.

He did notice on his way there people were staring at him, not sure if it was that he was marceline's guest or how much his pink skin stood out in the crowd. He just hoped they weren't drawing to any conclusions right away.

He made himself comfortable, or at least as comfortable as you could get in a crowd fully of smelly and crazy fans. They were all cheering for marceline, and all dressed up in a similar style as bubba. Bubba even saw a few with marceline gear.

Her fans were dedicated.

Smoke suddenly spread across the stage, the cheering got louder as four figures rose from the stage. Marceline stood out among them, looking as happy as ever, with a genuine smirk, she did her regular intro.

"WHAT'S UP LOSERS!?" She called out. "YOU ALL READY FOR THE SCREAM QUEENS?"

Everyone screamed, bubba made an attempt himself.

Marceline spotted him and winked, making him redden, then she began to play.

Bubba only sat in awe while she performed, He'd never seen her so happy, she looked powerful onstage with her music and her band and it really showed. She was singing just as great as always and her music sounded amazing, her band was doing great up there.

Marceline herself was clearly having fun, moving around and doing what bubba assumed was "Rock Star Moves", flipping her hair and and floating around sometimes. She would occasionally give bubba smirks and winks during the performance, just to mess with him.

He raised his hands in the air and cheered, making marceline grin even more.

He only hoped he wasn't distracting her too much from her show, otherwise, things could end rather badly.

Marceline was only 5 songs in now, almost to intermission, kelia was having a solo. Marceline, perhaps getting way too into it, did a stage dive into the audience, knowing she'd be fine amongst the crowd. But a few fans took it too far, and bubba saw them cling onto her, some even pulling her hair.

"Oh, no..." He said, on instinct,he began to push his way through the crowd. Trying to reach marceline was extremely difficult in this crowd, but I guess being made of gum gave him some advantages when it came to squeezing through.

He reached marceline and began to push people away from her, trying his hardest to protect her.

But there was too many people.

The band stopped playing, the crowd was in quite the commotion.

Marceline, finally out of the shock she was in when they grabbed her, put her arms around bubba from his backside and tried to lift them in the air. Some fans got a hold of her hair and leg, however, and she hissed.

"That's it..." She said, "Bubba...I need you to trust me real quick, can you do that?"

Bubba was still freaking out over the fans, but he managed to speak a little.

"Yes, of course but what are yo-AHHHHHHH"

Marceline tossed him into the air in one swoop, he panicked, but fell onto something big and furry.

Marceline was now in her bat form.

He clinging onto her are she shook off her fans a flew off to hide until the commotion ended. Bubba was tugging her fur in order to stay on and she flew into the night, He looked at her in concern.

"What about your concert?" He asked, "You have to go back there..."

"I'm not going back until that drama is over..." She said, "I'll return later..."

"Are you alright?" He asked, "They were really going at it...".

"I'll be fine..." She said, "But thank you for saving me...that could've been much worse...". She bit her lip, "You really put yourself at risk, doing that for me, they could've torn you apart for doing that...". Bubba nodded, "I know, it's just...you needed me...I couldn't let them do that to you..."

"Thanks nerd..." She said, "My hero..."

"Yeah...", he laid down on her back, nuzzling into her fur. "You were amazing up there y'know...more amazing that usual...", he felt himself grow red, " Your voice is really beautiful, and your music sounds really good..."

"Awwww, thanks..." She said, " You were fun to mess with, my fans all jelly when you got the best seat in the house?..."

"Yeah..." He joked, "I'm surprised they didn't just kill me then and there...". They both laughed, "Hey i'm glad you didn't get eaten by all those crazies out there, i'd hate to be responsible for something like that happening to you..."

He petted her soft head "Thank you...so where are we going anyway?"

"I don't know, I might stop in that field over there...sound good? I think we're pretty darn far..."

In the distance, bubba could see a clear grassy field, and a hilltop, it was quite lovely. "Of course marceline, lets stop there...we could look up at the stars, together. It could be kinda fun till we gotta head back..."

Marceline nodded, "Eh, alright...i'll stop on that hill, and you can get off me...".

All four of her feet landed on the ground, she kneeled so bubba could climb off of her, then she transformed back into her natural form. Shaking her self out, "Ahhhh, that was pretty wild, hope you enjoyed the flight bubs..."

"It was fun, although, next time you could use a saddle..." He teased.

"Ha...ha..." She mocked, "Next time, you carry **_me_** and see how it feels...". He stuck his tongue out, "All right then weirdo...", and without warning, he picked up Marceline and was carrying her bridal style.

"You know, I'm used to fionna carrying ME like that, kinda nice to be the one doing the carrying for once...", he laughed.

Marceline was blushing, but trying to cover it up with her hair, "Uh...yeah...cool...". If people didn't make fun of them for being a couple before, THIS sealed the deal. She playing tried to push his face, "Now let me go dork..."

He let her go, both laughing, bubba booted his way down the hill. He called back to her, "Bet I can make it to the bottom before you!". Marceline took this as a challenge, and floated her way down, bubba looked shocked, she was _**very**_ fast on her own. In fact, she was so fast, that he didn't notice her till she tackled him to the ground. She smirked above his body, "Pinned ya..."

"Heh...", he was staring at her face, feeling redder by the minute.

What was he doing? This evening out had now turned from hanging out at a concert together into them giggling like a couple of lovers. In this position, he almost wondered if they were going to kiss.

Then marceline turned red, "Hey...um, why are you looking at me like that?", she immediately got off of him. "Er...sorry, I-I didn't mean to...", she said really quickly, Bubba stopped her though, "No...no, it's fine..."

He then decided to change the subject, "Hey...you wanna look at the stars?"

She was secretly thankful for the change in subject, "Bubba...that's kinda boring, I see stars all the time..."

He laid down on the ground, and ushered her to do the same. They laid next to each other in the grass, staring at the dark sky...

Marceline had yet to find anything enjoyable about doing this, bubba however, was constantly pointing at the sky. Rambling about other worlds, and discovering new universes. Only making marceline think more and more about her promise.

He looked so happy though, like he hadn't had a care in the world.

But this was as good a time as any, nobody to overhear, and no distractions.

"Hey...bubba...I've been meaning to talk to you about something...for awhile..."

Bubba turned to face her in question, "Yeah? Whats up?". He wondered if she was finally gonna explain what has been bothering her these last few days. He kept eye contact with her, "Don't be afraid, you can tell me anything..."

Marceline bit her lip, "I'm sorry...i'm sorry I've been so weird lately, I guess it's kinda been killing you to know why I've been so weird around you lately...". Bubba nodded in response, "Marceline, I trust you, and I want to keep trusting you...but I can't if your keeping things from me..."

"I'm sorry bubba...it's just hard...to tell you the truth, i'm worried you won't like it, that you'll never want to hang out with me again...", she sounded saddened, "a-and I don't want that, I-I love being here with you...hanging out with you..."

She was red faced while speaking, bubba was listening closely, but then he felt himself grow red. Wait? What was marceline trying to say to him? She was ashamed to admit this because she was worried it would impact their relationship? Their friendship?

Bubba felt red, feeling like he knew what she was about to admit.

"Just promise me one thing bubba?" She said.

"Yes?"

"That we'll both still hang out together?"

He smiled sincerely at her, "Marceline, nothing could possibly stop me from wanting to hang out with you, you are amazing". Marceline nodded, "Alright, well...I-It's...the thing is...", she looked so uncomfortable trying to talk to him.

Bubba watched her, whatever this was, she couldn't do it.

"Wait...marceline, I want to say something to you first...", he said, he stood up and reached his hand out to her. She took it and stood up off the ground as well, he looked at her, biting his lip.

"Marceline...Tonight, it's been the happiest and strangest day of my life, I-I enjoy hanging out with you...a lot. You have been so kind to me...I-I was so lost, so alone...and you came to help me, Y-you cared about me..."

Marceline was so embarrassed, she didn't even bother to notice they were still holding hands.

"You...support me, even when I make mistakes...or...or when I screw things up, y-you came to save me...", He was blushing intently and couldn't look more embarrassed. "I- Think you're amazing, you're so funny, and talented, And beautiful...and so much fun to laugh with..."

He looked like he was going to cry, " Without you...who knows where i'd be today? Who knows even **_if_** i'd still be here today?". Marceline tried to reach out to comfort him, but instead he hugged her close.

"I- you mean so much to me...", he cried into her shoulder, "I miss my friends, I miss my kingdom, I miss home...but here, it's like my home now too, and it's all because of you...". Marceline patted his back, "Hey...look, don't cry I-"

"Marceline..." He interrupted, I-I Don't know if i'll ever get home...but if I don't, I don't mind staying here with you forever...".

Marceline became even more red, "Bubba, look, there is something I want to tell you, and I guess i'm just worried that you'll feel differently about me afterwards..."

He pulled them apart and took her shoulders, "I think I know what you're about to say...and it's okay...".

"It is? Your fine with it!?", she said, confused and slightly angry.

"Yeah...yeah, and marceline, don't be worried..."

"Why?"

"Because I feel the same way..."

Marceline stiffened, "What do you mean by-?".

She was interrupted as he pulled her into a kiss, a kiss on the _**lips**_. She was shocked, she didn't move, he was kissing her shyly, like he didn't know what he was even doing. His eyes were closed, and he was red all over.

Her first instinct was to push him away, but she couldn't do it.

Instead, she closed her eyes, and leaned into it.

He was holding her in his arms now, gently, kissing her softly and sweetly. Marceline felt relieved that she could finally let out her deep emotions, even though this felt wrong in some ways. She didn't hold back anymore, and she put her arms on his shoulders.

She pulled him even closer.

 _What are you doing? You need to stop now. You need to tell him the truth. This can only end badly._

Thoughts swirled in marceline's mind, she wanted to stop, but this moment was too good, she didn't want it to end. He was smiling now, she could only imagine what he was thinking about, but he seemed so happy, as if he'd been waiting for this kiss for forever.

It was only a few minutes, but it felt like forever.

They pulled away slowly from each other, both blinking in usion, as if they couldn't believe what just happened. Bubba looked at her in amazement, she kissed him back! He couldn't believe that he kissed her! Having never worked up the courage to kiss someone like that before.

"Bubba...I.." Marceline mumbled, "I-I d-didn't...I-", she couldn't find the right words to tell him, she looked at him as if she was seeing someone entirely new. Bubba was still red, and he was smiling like an idiot.

"W-we kissed..." He said, "I-I...wow..."

He chuckled, and brushed some hair out of his face, he felt his cheeks.

She felt so cold when he kissed her, something that felt weird in contrast to his warmth. And her fangs got in the way sometimes, but he didn't mind, it was the most amazing feeling he'd ever had in a long time.

Marceline was frozen in place, at a loss for words.

He looked so happy, very happy, he was smiling and laughing and it was so... **cute.**

"Marceline...I-", he started, "I really like you...like "like like" you. It's just, I...you make me so happy, even when your angry with me...I just-"

But marceline stopped him.

"No, bubba...listen..." She said, "I...w-we can't...", She looked as if she was going to cry.

Bubba on the other hand, looked as if his entire world was ruined, the smile turned immediately to a frown and his gaze now looked more embarrassed and sad. He looked as if he was trying to talk but...couldn't.

"Wha-what do you mean? Of course we can, we can **** ** _try_** can't we?", he asked.

He tried to take her hand but she pushed him away, "Look, bubba, you don't want to be in a relationship with me...I-it'll never work like you think it will...". She couldn't believe what she was doing, she hurt him many times before, but this took the cake.

"Marceline..." He started, "No, please, did I do something wrong?"

"No...it's just that...w-we..." She looked at him sadly, "I have to go...", she turned to leave, but he grabbed her wrist.

"Wait, don't go...what about your concert? Your friends? What about our date?"

"Just tell them i'm too hurt to go on or something stupid, i'll do another concert to make it up for them...", she yanked her hand away, "I'm going home bubba...see you later..."

She flew up and out of his sight, leaving him alone on the grassy hill.

"Marceline...", he said, tears starting to fall from his cheeks.

"Don't go..."

He didn't know, but she was crying too.

She wiped her tears angrily, with her arm as she flew away towards her house.

"Stop crying...this is so stupid..." She mumbled to herself.

She plopped onto her bed face first, crying into her mattress.

"I'm so sorry bubba..." She said, "I'm so sorry..."


	13. We Need To Talk

**Chapter help by mysterious-thingy**

_

"MARCELINE! What the heck girl?!"

"What?!"

"What do you mean you didn't tell him the truth?! Did we not make it clear enough to tell him during your concert?!"

"Ugh...can it bon, he might hear you..."

Marceline grumbled into her phone, sometimes, she really hated talking to the candy princess. Especially when she nagged her like this, she pulled her hair in irritation, "Look, you don't get it...I was trying to...but-"

"But?", she heard Bonnie ask from the other ends of the line.

"But he...he thought I was trying to say...something else...", she played with her hair, turning red. She didn't blame bubba overall, he didn't think he was a fictional character, so he clearly had to think something else had been going on.

She just didn't expect him to think _**that**_...

"Really? And you didn't correct him? Come on marceline, don't tell me you chickened out...", Bonnie was at her own home herself, taking notes in her room, phone balancing on her shoulder. "It's not like you..."

"I-I didn't chicken out!", Marceline denied quickly, "I-I was just too off guard to tell him!". She bit her lip, she wondered what bonnibel was thinking on the other end of the line, but no doubt she was clearly being blamed for something.

"Wait, what exactly do you mean by-?"

"H-HE KISSED ME ALRIGHT?!", She practically screamed into the phone, "W-we both kissed and he...he told me he liked me, like, **_like_** liked me...". She gulped, "I-I didn't know what to do, I...left him, I told him it wouldn't work..."

"You both kissed?", Bonnie said, almost dropping her phone. "Wow...h-how was it?"

"I-It...it was nice, just-whatever...", she really didn't want to talk about this, not to Bonnie of all people. "Look...point is...i flipped out and now he's like...REALLY sad, he didn't even want to sleep in the same bed as me last night, he moved back downstairs...on my couch". Anyone who spent time in marceline's home knew her couch was the most uncomfortable thing to lye on.

She could only imagine the pain bubba must be in, physically and mentally.

She wanted to talk to him, but she didn't know what to say to him anymore, he looked so uncomfortable around her. As if what he did was a huge sin he committed and he was worried she would punish him for it.

He looked...broken.

"Marceline...this is bad, you need to talk to him, explain...", Bonnie said, "The poor guy needs you...". She couldn't help but feel like this was partly her own fault for making marceline take him out on that date.

"Bonnie, what do I say to him? I did more than hurt him, I broke his heart..."

"You gotta try Marcy, do it for him...", Bonnie said, "Besides, there's more to this puzzle than I thought, and i'd rather he be happy..."

"What do you mean by that?", Marceline asked, eyes narrowing. Bonnie had been investigating bubba and his existence for quite some time, but she'd been having a hard time making progress lately, due to her kingdom, and other plans.

She could only hope this was something good.

"Marceline...I found out something interesting in my latest research about PG, remember that book you showed me? The one that you said was how he arrived here? Well, I thought something was off about it, and now I know what..."

"Yeah?", marceline asked, curiously, "Spit it out!".

"Ice king didn't write that last section...", she admitted, "The ball scene, that led to the woods, that led to you? It's not in Simon's handwriting, someone else wrote it...".

Marceline almost dropped her phone, "Wait...are you telling me that someone else brought him to life?! Like, someone used Simon's book to make bubba a real person?!". It wasnt that it was impossible, it's just she didn't really think anybody would've been crazy enough to do such a thing, well, besides ice king. It wasn't as if his books were famous and his characters well known and loved, but the idea...of someone taking ice kings book and bringing life to one of his characters sounded so... odd.

"Yeah...that's what i'm saying...we need to find whoever the handwriting belongs to..."

"But, who else would write in it? It's not like tons of people even care about Simon's fanfics anyway...", marceline said, "Well, except for LSP that one time, but really, this clearly wasn't her doing..."

"Well, someone clearly did marceline...and we gotta track them down..."

"And do what exactly? Even if we do find them, what exactly do you expect us to do with them?", it wasn't like knowing who did it was gonna make too much of a difference when it comes to helping bubba, there was no evidence that they were even responsible for his existence.

Nonetheless, they were a lead.

"We talk to them...", bonnie said, simply. "We ask them about bubba and the book and find out what we can, who knows, we might be able to get bubba home yet...", she had a hint of sadness in her voice, "Hopefully he'll be able to visit us..."

Marceline remained silent.

"Marceline, you would miss him, don't deny it. We would all miss him, and i'm sure he'd miss you too...", bonnie spoke softly, "If we can send him back, we will, but not without a way for him to come back..."

Marceline still didn't speak, this morning bubba wouldn't even look at her, it was so much worse then it was the night after the ball. He looked so uncomfortable, so sad and hurt, and he barely spoke or did anything that showed any signs of life.

No baking, no singing, no smiling or laughing, it wasn't like him.

And it only made her feel worse, like she was gonna puke, she spent most of her life messing with people and harming others. But this was...too much, she'd never felt this bad for something she did in a long time.

She wanted to hug him, say she was sorry, but she didn't want to make him feel worse. And she was very good at making people angry and upset with her, bonnie was a prime example of that.

There had to be something she could do to make it up to him.

That's when it dawned on her.

His home! If they could take him home, perhaps it would get his mind off everything. He would be happy again, with all his friends and his kingdom, and his personal kitchen as well as his citizens. He'd have his old life back and he'd finally be able to stop worrying about everything going on back would forgive her and they could go back to normal again, maybe...just maybe...

"Bonnie...lets find them...", she said, "We should get bubba home..."

"I'll get right to work on it, don't you worry...", she said.

"If it helps bubba...i'll do it...", marceline said, "anything that'll make him feel better...". Bonnie bit her lip, "I still think you should talk to him, make amends with each other and hang out again...you know it's destroying him, to not be talking and hanging out with you..."

"So? He likes me, but that can't happen, so the next best thing he can have is to be able to get home again...", she said.

"Marceline, I don't get it, why don't you want to date him? You clearly kissed him back, you clearly like him, what's the big deal? You told me it was the lying, but thats something you could work out. You told me it was because he wasnt real, but he's physically here, you can easily date him. Marceline, i'm starting to wonder if your just trying to find an excuse that'll keep you two from dating..."

"And why would I do that Sherlock?", she said, eyes narrowing.

"I think it's because you don't wanna admit you like him...", she drawled, "You are so worried that you're relationship will end up like how yours and mine did that you don't even want to let it happen...you're scared...scared to lose someone else..."

Marceline seemed to be at a loss for words.

"I-I...well..."

"Marceline...if you don't make up now, I know you'll regret it forever...this route will only lose him faster..."

She bit her lip, "Fine...i-i'll talk to him..."

"Good! Now I gotta go...we have a lead to catch, good luck with bubba alright?"

"Fine..."

She hung up, and then she let out a huge sigh, she hated when Bonnie was right. This was only going to get worse if she didn't talk to him now, and if things were going to get better between the two of them, they needed to work this out now.

She wandered down her ladder into her living room, bubba had been there all morning, just lying on her couch in a sad position. He looked like a lost puppy, a very lost puppy, like nothing was happy anymore.

However, this time, bubba wasnt there.

Marceline's first reaction was to panic, what if something terrible happened to him? But then she saw a note left on the kitchen counter, it was in bubba's fancy handwriting, he wrote very feminine for a guy, must be a prince thing.

_

Marceline,

I'm going out for a walk, do not be concerned for my safety, I don't plan on going to far from home.

I'll be home soon, once i'm ready for it.

-Bubba

_

Marceline sighed, maybe she'd have to get him once he'd got back, he clearly needed some time to think to himself and breathe a little easier. He seemed to be under so much stress and pressure, and being cooped up under her roof wasnt helping.

She just looked at the note sadly, she could only hope that he'd feel a little better after he got back.

It wasnt dark out yet, but if it was starting to get too dark, then maybe she'd go out to find him. There were plenty pf creatures out there who'd love to hurt or harm someone like bubba, especially since he had no current way of defending himself yet.

She sat down on the couch, she winced, man was it hard.

there were blankets all over it where bubba slept, as well as his clothes in a neat pile next to it. There were even traces or Schwabl's fur on the couch, probably indicating that her dog joined bubba while he slept last night.

She smiled softly to herself, even these little thoughts made her feel a slight bit better.

She looked around the dirty room and bit her lip, she didn't do much house work, but if she was going to talk to bubba, or at least get his attention...

"I guess I could clean up? Make dinner?", she suggested, she'd been used to bubba doing so much housework, it felt strange doing some herself. He immediately went to work, folding the blankets, cleaning the fur, and fixing up bubba's current sleeping space.

Then she walked into the kitchen, what was there to eat around here?

-

Bubba kicked a random can lying on the grassy floor, dribbling it like a soccer ball.

He couldn't stand another minute being in that house, surrounded by marceline's things, and her presence. It only made him sick to his stomach the more he was there, just thinking about her was making him sick.

He felt guilty, guilty about kissing her, guilty about telling her his feelings for her.

Why was everything so confusing with her?

He felt so frustrated, he kicked the can again, but this time it landed within the woods.

he shivered, he was not going in there, especially not without marceline as a guide. It was practically asking the creatures out there to go after him, and he certainty didn't want to risk it, he'd rather be whole when he got home.

Although, his heart felt too broken for that to happen.

She kissed him back! That meant she liked him too! Right? She was trying to tell him that she liked his and yet, she pushed him away and abandoned him, abandoned her fans, abandoned everything to be alone.

All because of him.

How was he even supposed to be able to look at her and smile anymore?! when all he ever seemed to do was make everything so much worse for her and everybody else around him, no wonder Marshall and fionna both rejected him, no wonder they stopped hanging out with him...

He made things so much worse, no matter how much he tried...

Marceline was never going to talk to him again after this, she probably felt embarrassed, embarrassed that they did such a thing. He should've known better, he shouldn't have come on to her like that, everything had been just fine before he ruined it.

He just got caught up in the moment.

And now he was paying for his mistake, his heart heavy and tears flowing out of his eyes, he continued walking along the pathway.

He couldn't just help but think, what if they worked out? What if they **_were_** a couple? What if they could spend so many great moments together for the rest of their immortal lives? He didn't even know if he'd ever get back home, but if he didn't, he'd want to spend this new life with marceline.

He smiled sadly, thinking about dreams that would never become real.

Them going on dates and messing around, getting married, having kids. It was all just some fantasy he was making in his head, he should've known better than to think that could ever have become a reality between the two of them.

And yet, he wanted it so badly, he wished it was real.

Bubba began to sob, even though he was trying his hardest not to.

"Why...why do I do everything WRONG?!", he kneeled to the ground, holding his face in his hands. He sobbed for a bit, letting the tears drip off his face, then everything went black.

-

He woke up in his bed, or at least it felt like his bed, so soft, so **_pink_**...

His eyes widened, it **_was_** his bed, he looked around the room, it looked just like his bedroom. He mumbled, "I'm back? I-it was all a dream...", he felt his head, it was throbbing," No...no, I-I was in a forest..."

"Yes you were!", came the voice of a girl, who stood next to the bed.

"Fionna?!", gumball said, "How- what's going on?!". The girl looked at him sternly, "You left us at the party, what happened to you man?! You were unconscious out in the woods, you could've been hurt dude..."

"Yeah...", said a figure next to him, one of a vampire, like marceline...but not quite.

"Marshall...I...I missed you guys...", bubba said, "I...I missed you guys so much...". He thought he was going to cry again, he couldn't believe he was seeing his best friends and hearing their wonderful voices once again!

"Bubba, it's only been a few hours...", Marshall said.

"No...no, it's been so much longer than that...I was living with marceline, for a long time...", he stiffened, "Marceline...I-I gotta talk to her, she-"

"Bubba, there is no one named marceline...", fionna said.

Bubba shook his head, "No...no, she's real, she's beautiful, and funny, and I was living with her for awhile. I- I need to find her...", he tried to sit up on the bed, but his friends suddenly pushed his down.

"Bubba, you're being so weird man...", Marshall said, "There isn't anyone named marceline around here...just go back to sleep you weirdo...". Bubba was struggling, however, this couldn't be real, marceline was much to real to him to have all been a dream of his own creation. He remembered her all too well, and how much they bonded together, and how much they took care of each other.

No, this wasn't right.

Something about this didn't **_feel_** right...

"What is wrong with you guys?! listen to me! I met someone and I need to find her...she's probably worried, I-I can't just abandon her...", he argued, "You guys are my friends, but she's my friend too and I need to see her...now..."

"We're your friends bubba, lie down and forget about her, this is what you wanted right? To be back home...", they tried to lie him back down on the bed, but he was resisting. "No...this isn't what I want! I want to be home, I want to see you guys again...but I don't want to leave her..."

"And what? Leave you're friends behind for some fake girl...?", Marshall hissed, their grips felt tighter.

"Let me go! Sh-She's real, and I need to see her again...what are you doing?!", he screamed angrily. He pushed them away, "No...you aren't my friends, let me go!". Their eyes begun to glow red, " She's not real..."

He was struck with fear, he struggled even more, trying to get them off of him.

He was terrified, the room around him was fading, like they were in another world. It no longer felt like home, he was having a nightmare, just like the last time. Except this felt much worse, **_much_** worse.

"I-I want to see her again...I don't care what it takes, I need to see her again...", he pushed them off of him.

Everything went black

-

Then his eyes snapped open, he sat up, he was lying down on the grass. It was raining, and his clothes were muddy all over. He was breathing heavily, like he'd been panicking, What had even happened? It seemed as if he had passed out.  
 _  
Another_ weird dream about his friends? This wasn't like the first time, it was so much worse.

He was breathing really fast, terrified of such a scenario, he didn't realize his friends could look so scary. These dreams...why did they happen? He didn't know if he'd been under some kind of spell or if this really was visions held in his mind.

It was such a bizarre dream, it seemed so real at first, and then...

"Marceline...", he whispered, tears returning.

He didn't know what to make of that dream, but there was one thing for sure, he had to see marceline again. He couldn't risk losing her to his current fear, like he'd wake up and find out she never existed, he had to do something.

"I lost my friends...I-I can't risk losing her too...", he mumbled to himself.

He got himself off the soggy ground, he was filthy all over, but that didn't matter right now. He turned around and ran through the storm, he felt so gross all over, like he'd never get clean again.

He saw the cave in the distance, and he couldn't help but smile at the mere sight of it.

It was _**real**_ , all of it, marceline was real, their memories were real. He laughed and ran towards it's entrance, he never felt so relieved in all of his life. He recognized he house, her basketball court, her garden, everything...

The inside of the cave was slightly damp, but it was much better than being out in the open.

He opened the door to find the vampire queen, panicked, she even looked as if she'd been crying. At bubba's arrival, she looked at him as if he was a ghost. She stared at him for a short bit before pulling him into a tight hug, crying into his wet shoulder.

"Bubba you moron! You had me so worried! I was about to go out looking for you!", she pulled him in tighter, "You were gone for **_hours_**! You could've **** ** _died_** out there...", she sniffled into his shirt, "You're such an idiot sometimes..."

She relaxed a little more and noticed his attire.

"You feel so wet...your clothes, man bubba...what happened?"

On instinct, he pulled her close, " Look, I just passed out...don't worry, I-I'm just glad I could see you again...". He rested his head onto her shoulder, "I-I'm sorry I scared you, I won't do it again...I promise..."

Marceline gave him a warm smile, "I'm glad your okay princey...you're not hurt are you?", she held his arms, trying to examine them, "Cause doctor marceline can fix you up...". Bubba grinned, "No...I don't think so...just rather filthy...".

She bit her lip, "Well, go take a bath and put on some fresh clothes, I sorta made us food, and you're going to eat it...". Bubba sniffed the air, something did smell rather good around here, "Alright...", he said.

They parted awkwardly, "When I get back, can we talk marceline...I-?"

"Yeah, sure...I Want to talk with you too...", she mumbled awkwardly, "Go clean up, and we'll chat...". She reached up and felt his hair, "You feel so gross...and is this a stick in your hair?!", she said, pulling out something from his gooey hair.

"Yeah...Sorry..."

She giggled, "Just...go clean up, i'll set the table...".

Bubba didn't even bother to ask why she was doing all this, the house looked so...clean. Marceline was always such a slob it was so bizarre to see her act this way, but he didn't question it and went up the ladder and into the bathroom.

Marceline finished her work and sat at the table, she finished wiping the dried tears from her face. She breathed in a little easier, even though she didn't even need to breathe at all, he was _alive_...

She felt so relieved.

She could hear the water running upstairs, he was already cleaning up. He seemed happy to see her, no, more than happy, he looked at her like he hadn't seen her in years. She wondered if that walk really had helped him in some way, she played with the silverware on the table, still nervous and still partially guilty about her actions towards him.

He wandered back down a while later, marceline stood up immediately.

He was wearing plain jeans and the shirt marceline had given him, and he was smiling.

He wandered into the kitchen and politely took a seat, he sniffed the air and grinned. "It smells really good in here marceline...I-I thought you didn't enjoy cooking?", he was trying to tease her a little, trying to cheer her up.

She sat back down, she gave him a small smile to his joke, "Well, yeah...but you really like baking and cooking so...I-thought...maybe...". She scratched her head, Bubba looked at her, "Thank you...I-I know why..."

"And..."

"And...I'm not mad with you..I-I'm sorry...sorry for acting like that...", he said, "I-I must've been really weird to you...". He was laughing awkwardly now, averting his eyes from her gaze. She looked at him in concern, "No...no, it-it's fine, We-I...I overreacted...I shouldn't have acted like that..."

"No...It's fine..."

She didn't look satisfied though, "No bubba, it's not fine...I-I shouldn't have treated you like that...I-I just the kiss just threw me off, and-and I guess I just didn't know how to react to it all...". She twiddled her thumbs and bit her lip, avoiding his gaze even further, she looked like she might have been blushing.

"No, no...marceline, if you don't feel the same way-", he said.

"No, no...it's not like that at all!", she denied quickly, "I mean, I-I would love to date you and...". She tensed up, and stopped talking immediately before she said anything too embarrassing. Bubba was blushing as well, at the thought of marceline saying she wanted to date her.

"I-It's just that...I just want to keep things...professional between us, right now...", she said, "It's just, when people kinda date me...things always end kinda badly...and I- I just don't want that happening between us...". Bubba payed close attention to what she said, trying his hardest to be mature about the whole situation, rather than crying like he had done the last time.

"I'm sorry...", he said, "I-I mean, I don't want something to come between us either...I-It's just, I-I think your amazing..."

Marceline grinned, "You really like me?"

He grinned, turning even redder, "I-I...Yeah...". He scratched the back of his head, slightly amused, "I-I'm sorry if that bothers you or anything..."

"No, no...it's ok, you can crush on me and stuff...", she said quickly, "It's fine...it really is..."

"It is?"

"Bubba, I-I like you too...but I'm just...I just don't-", she tried to explain.

"No...no, you don't need to explain...let's just, lets just remain close...okay?", he said, he was going to be as mature about this as he could, even though he was secretly thinking about their kiss. Thinking about her kissing him back, he was getting lost in her eyes before he snapped out of it.

"Yeah...", she said, sad that she was making a decision like this, bubba not getting upset made her feel even worse. She could only wonder what he was thinking about right now, he didn't look too upset, but he could be hiding his feelings.

"Hey...is it okay, it...maybe before...we remain friends...?", gumball started, "Do you wanna...maybe... ** _kiss_** one more time?".

She looked at him oddly, "You...you wanna...kiss? Again?". She didn't know how to respond to such an odd request, she just sat there, blushing harder and remaining silent. Bubba shared the same expression she had, "I-I'm sorry...I-I shouldn't...I Shouldn't have-"

Before he finished his thought though, marceline leaned forward and grabbed onto his shirt's collar, and pressed their lips together in a aggressive kiss. Bubba, after getting over the shock, closed his eyes and enjoyed what was left of the moment. There were too many thoughts spinning in his head right now and he couldn't concentrate, he just wished this moment could've lasted forever.

Marceline floated out of her chair and across the table, making it much easier to kiss.

Bubba held onto her face, and felt her soft hair.

It took about 60 seconds for marceline to force herself to separate from him, before things got out of hand. They looked at each other, both smiling and gigging, gumball smiled a little sadly, it was over...

"Ok, from now on...can we just um...hang?", marceline said, reaching out to him. He took her hand and shook it, "Yeah...er, yeah, we can totally..."Hang". She yanked on his hand and pulled him into a hug, "I-I'm glad your okay with this...I kinda thought maybe...you'd freak out or get upset..."

"N-no...", he said, hugging her back. "Today...I was sad, I admit it, but I took some time to think it through...a-and I realized that I should've respected your wishes instead of getting upset like I did..."

She pinched the hair on the back of his neck, "Heck, don't worry about it, I-I know what it feels like...to be rejected by someone special. It sucks...it like...REALLY sucks, you feel like things are awful and that you'll never get over it..."

She took a deep breath, "But they get better...they do...", she removed herself off of him, "Look...thanks for being cool about it, I-". But he shushed her, "No, I-You were right, I don't want things to end between us and if this is what needs to be done, than I am more than willing..."

He hugged her again, "You are all I have left..."

She playfully pushed him off of her, "Okay, enough with all the sappy talk, can we eat now? I spent like...forever making all this food..."

He nodded, "Yeah...i'm excited, I can't believe you did all this for me, C'mon...lets see what you got...". He sat back in his seat, waiting patiently for marceline to put food on both of their plates, "Thank you..."

"For dinner...?"

"For many things?"

He cut up his food and took a bite, "Is it okay if I move back upstairs? You're couch isn't exactly the most comfortable thing to sleep on, It took me awhile to get to sleep last night...even with the blankets..."

"Yeah...I'm sorry about that, if you really wanna move back up...sure", she said, "J-Just don't get any ideas OK?"

"Of course..."

They both continues to eat, laugh, and smile once again, almost like nothing had even come between the two of them. But even though the two beings looked happy on the outside, both felt the same sad feeling on the inside.

Still thinking about the kiss.

Still thinking about the confession.

Still thinking about an impossible reality.


	14. Swords And Spies

Bubba woke up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes, it was morning.

He smiled softly, he wanted to go back to sleep so badly considering how late he and marceline and stayed up together. But he couldn't seem to manage to close his eyes again and lie back on the mattress.

No, he was much too awake to go back and rest.

He could hear her still breathing next to him, making soft snoring noises and probably drooling all over the mattress like she normally did when she was asleep. He breathed in happily at the thought of them once again hanging out and being close friends, It was such a good feeling.

They spent all night messing around, playing games and talking, it was like nothing had happened between them.

Although there was no denying things between them went rocky recently, he could only hope this was the last of it.

At least for a good while.

He was done with drama between the two of them.

He felt her toss and turn next to him, probably having weird reams again, he wondered what vampire's dreamt about anyway? Were they normal dreams like everybody else's? Or where they more animalistic and scary?

With all marceline had been through, probably a mixture of both.

He sat up on the bed and rubbed his face, he wanted to sleep so badly, but he had to get up and get ready, he felt his stomach growl with hunger. He needed to get dressed and start the day, whether he wanted to or not.

He immediately went into the bathroom and washed his face, his stomach growled again.

"Hmmmm, maybe i'll eat first instead...", he said to himself, before putting on some slippers and going down marceline's ladder into her living room. Schwabl yawned and pranced over to him, wagging his tail excitedly.

Bubba reached down and patted the small dog's head, "Y'know I have a dog back home just like you, she's bigger though, **_much_** bigger, but she's so squish...", he made a face while rubbing the dog's belly.

"Awwwww, aren't you sweet? Hopefully your master'll wake up soon and maybe we can take you out for a stroll hmm? That sound like fun?", as if he understood, the dog barked cheerfully.

Bubba grinned at the sight, "Then it's a deal then...now I gotta eat...", he petted the dog one more time before resuming what he was originally doing. He wandered into the kitchen. searching through the fridge and cabinets for what they had left.

"Bet marceline already ate most of this stuff already...", he joked, he looked around and found some some jam in the back of the fridge. Guess jam and toast would have to do for now till they went grocery shopping.

He pulled the bread out and put some in the toaster for now, then sat at the table and waited patiently.

It was such a quiet morning, there wasn't any sound except for the small noises coming from the toastmaster, and schwabl's small footsteps. Living in a cave was much quieter than he expected, or always imagined. He used to think he'd hear so many bats and small creatures, but marceline's cave was rather empty, perhaps most of it's residents were scared off by her?

He wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

Marceline didn't always look it, but she was dang intimidating.

The bread finished toasting and he sat down and spread some jam on it, and then he took a bite. He never seemed to have plans anymore did he? He had so much free time to do as he pleased and in result, he was sitting here alone, eating dry toast.

If only his people could see him now...

He heard a moan upstairs and a few minutes later a groggy vampire queen entered the room, hair in a mess and clothes wrinkled, she let out a big yawn before taking a seat across from the candy prince. He smirked at her appearance, marceline was by far the most unsanitary woman he'd met, and that was saying something in comparison to his blonde friend.

Marceline looked at his groggily, staring at his food, she was getting very hungry herself.

She looked at it like a begging dog, eyes looking up at bubba, and making a small pouting face. He shook his head, "Nope, sorry marce, you are getting your own food this time, c'mon, it'll wake you up..."

She looked very irritated, brow furrowing.

He loved how cute she looked while making this face, "Awww c'mon marcy, you can handle it..."

Pouting, she stood up and made her way to the toaster and placed some bread inside, she made an sound of annoyance. "Gee bubba, thanks for being a gentleman...I'm tired man, can't you help a lady?"

He grinned even wider, "Fraid my gentlemanly code doesn't mean I need to help a lady put bread in a toaster, nor feed her my current meal..."

"Pffff, then add those to your list them...", she exclaimed, "They need them..."

She turned away from him, not wanting him to notice she was blushing. She and bubba had recovered into once again being "Friends", although there was no denying that they both secretly wished it could've resulted in something more.

Bubba, who had always been unsuccessful with dating, had never wanted to be with someone this much in his entire life.

Marceline, whose relationships had the slight problem of starting off well and quickly falling downhill, wanted to try this.

"Well, my lady...i'm afraid I cannot...", he said, politely. He continued to eat as she got her toast and joined him, "So what's on the menu today bubba? Just lounging around I guess?", she took a bite.

Bubba shrugged, "It could be a chore day? We could walk schawby, do some laundry and maybe garden...", marceline gave him an irritated expression in response, not being a fan of chores. "Gee bubba, when I asked what we'd do today, I felt like we'd do something **_fun_**..", she pouted even more, "Working isn't fun bubba, and we don't need to do any laundry, we're perfectly fine..."

"Maybe to you...", he said, "But I can't tell you how often I've stepped on one of your...er...undergarments..", he blushed. Marceline snickered at his embarrassment, "Awwww c'mon bubba, that's what you get for sleeping in my room..."

"Marceline...you need to clean that up...what if bonnie came over and thought that we...you know?", he turned even redder at the thought.

Marceline laughed into her hand , enjoying his expression, "Pffffft, can you imagine her face if she thought that?! Oh man it would be priceless!", she went into a fit of laughter. This only made bubba blush harder, he bean to mumble, "I-It'd be so inappropriate...s-she..."

She reached over and touched bubba's shoulder.

"Relax bubba...no need to flip out...", she grinned, revealing all her teeth, "I was joking...". He tried to smile and calm himself down, "Oh, yeah, of course...I-I'm sorry, heh...so uh, but yeah...", he took a deep breath, "We need to get some things done today..."

"Awwwwww, fine...whatever...", she shrugged, "Let's just get it over with alright, i'd rather spend my days doing something much more entertaining...". She ate the rest of her food quickly and cleaning off her plate.

"Alright, i'll clean up and stuff and I guess we can walk schwabl? It could be fun I suppose...", she shrugged, "I'll need my sun hat and gloves and such...rather not turn into dust, trust me, it's not a pretty sight..."

"I expect so...hopefully, i'll never have to see it...", he pictured the idea of marceline burning to a crisp and and his stomach dropped.

Marceline went into her bathroom and got ready, leaving bubba to clean up the kitchen, as well as start cleaning up the dirty laundry on the floor. He was rather disgusted by marceline's uncleanliness...

While marceline bathed, he started washing their clothes in her washer, separating darks from lights.

At least one thing was out of the way...

Bubba finished up,and wandered into their room, he passed out on the bed. Falling on the mattress face first, marceline was clearly still in the bathroom washing up, so he had a few minutes to kill.

He couldn't be sure how long he slept, but he woke to someone tugging on his hair. He managed to peek open his eyes just a little bit to see marceline looking right at him, smirking in enjoyment. She removed her hands from the sticky strands of his hair, "Get up sleeping beauty, bathroom's all yours...".

She was already fully dressed, hair done, and ready to start the day.

He sat up on the bed and rubbed his eyes, "Er sorry...I'll go get ready...", he immediately grabbed some fresh clothes for himself, and whatever else he required. Wandering into the bathroom to finally freshen up.

While he was in the bathroom, marceline went over to her desk and grabbed her song book off of it, lying down on her bed and flipping through the pages. She'd written many songs throughout her long life, but that wasn't the reason she wanted to go through her book.

She flipped until she came across the song she was looking for.

"I'm just Your Problem"...

Attached to the song was some pictures, pictures of her and bonnie mostly. She looked at the memories fondly, with her and bonnie becoming even closer recently trying to help bubba out, it felt as if things had really patched up between the two.

They almost were like a mystery team, solving a huge case.

Bonnie still hadn't gotten back to her about who had written in simon's book, but then again, finding out who they were in a day would've been too easy. Although it really did make her think, why **_would_** someone try to bring bubba to life?

Not that she was complaining, but it was a wonder why he was real and his fellow characters weren't.

She had a long list of questions to ask, and she couldn't ask them soon enough.

She closed the book and sighed, things were really changing weren't they? All those memories felt so long ago, like a dream, she wondered if this was how bubba felt all the time being in this world. Like the whole world evolved without him, except in his case, he wasn't exactly home.

Years ago she and bonnie were such a silly pair, doing insane things, and surviving in this strange world. But now that they were a team again, they were going through things that were strange, but not as exciting.

She needed an adventure.

Bubba came out shorty, looking over marceline's shoulder in an attempt to see what she was looking at. This made her jump, and close her book in fright, "Er...bubba...gees you scared me, what the heck dude?"

"Er...i'm so sorry, was that private? I didn't mean to snoop or anything...", he said, embarrassed, " I'm so sorry...". Marceline reassured him right away, setting her book down, "Don't worry bubs, it's nothing...just looking at some old stuff of mine..."

"Oh...", he said.

She stood up, "So...walk? I got a leash for schwabl somewhere around here...", she put her book back on her desk and bubba followed her downstairs. Bubba twiddled his thumbs, wondering if anything in that book had to do with him.

Finding the leash, putting on her hat and gloves, marceline hooked up schwabl. He barked in excitement, jumping up and down happily, tugging on his leash. This made both royals smile, they enjoyed his excitement.

"He's really cute...", bubba said, looking at her, "Reminds me of my dog back home..."

"Yeah...", she said, "Haven't seen him this excited in awhile..."

"Then you outta take him out more...", he said, "I bet he'd love more walks, we should both take him out more...". Marceline nodded at this suggestion, "alright, I guess that's ok...". She didn't get out much because of the sun, and even when she did get out it was to something normally more "Interesting" than walk.

They both left the house, Schwabl happily took the lead to the outside of the cave, his friends following behind.

"We should visit finn and jake, we haven't seen them in so long...", bubba suggested, "and I kinda miss them, they're a fun pair...". Marceline bit her lip, "Yeah, you're not wrong, it's been awhile..."

"Maybe they'd appreciate a visit?"

'If they're not out slaying some weird goat demon of something...", She mocked, "It's rare to find them home sometimes..."

"Yeah, but they're your best friends, you outta hang out with them...", he said, "Whether i'm here or not, I don't mind your friends, their pretty cool...". He wasn't lying, they reminded him of his friends so much, they almost made him feel at home.

"You like them?", she said, slightly surprised.

"Of course I do, they've been quite friendly to me...", he said, "And that's something I definitely needed...being out here.."

Marceline had to agree with that, wondering what would've happened to bubba if she hadn't found him in the woods, he most likely would've been eaten, considering the creatures that lived out there. But there was much worse in this world he could've succumbed to...

"Yeah, they're cool, I guess we can visit them and stuff..."

"Awesome...Thanks marce..."

"I know I should talk to them more...it's just things have been so...so...", she started, not entirely sure how to finish as schwabl tugged oh the leash harder. Bubba gave her a meek smile, and raised his eyebrow.

"Unusual?", he finished for her.

"Yeah...something like that...", she said, suddenly thinking about the kiss.

"Then I think a time out would suit us both well, yknow, in the company of so many friends...", he said, "We could have a movie night? A dinner, Anything goes by me as long as we have fun together...".

Marceline thought quietly to herself, maybe he was right, she and bubba might have made up but it was clear there was still tension between them, she needed to spend more time with someone else, someone other than past loves.

Finn and jake were cool enough, and they always do exciting things together, maybe a break with them would take her mind off things. And maybe they knew something about who wrote in IK's book?

They did get around quite a bit, she bit her lip and came to her final decision.

"Yeah, how about we walk there?", she said, "Maybe we could all hang out...I'm sure schwabl won't mind..."

The two were quiet as they continued to keep walking together, continuously giving the other one glances, they were silent as they kept walking. Sometimes schwabl needed to take a "potty break", and marceline made bubba clean it up.

The tree house was shown in the distance, making both royals smile.

Marceline picked up her tired dog and floated her way to the tree house, bubba following closely behind. Finn and jake were very active characters, so there was no telling if she'd find them them at this hour, but she took the time to knock anyway.

Luckily, Jake answered the door.

"Marceline?", he asked, he looked rather tired today, like he hadn't slept.

"Yo..." she said, "What's up man?"

Jake rubbed his eyes, and noticed bubba, who just made it up the marceline, panting very loudly.

"You alright dude?", he asked, looking at bubba. Bubba caught his breath and calmed down, allowing himself to grin, and laugh awkwardly about the situation. He gave the magic dog a shrug, "I'm ok...don't worry ...I just need to work out again..."

"You worked out?", jake asked, curious.

"I used to sword fight, but I guess it's been awhile...", he explained, "Another thing I kinda miss..."

"You SWORD FIGHT?!", jake said, "OMG FINNN! REMEMBER THAT WEIRD GUY MARCY HANGS WITH?!"

A call came from upstairs.

"YEAH?!"

"HE CAN SWORD FIGHT!"

"WHAT?!"

They could hear things breaking and falling as finn ran towards the front door of the tree house, looking tired and slightly injured. He looked at bubba, half excited, half pained, "You can fight?! Why didn't you tell me you could that?! That's awesome man!"

He shrugged, "I don't know I guess it just...", he glanced at Marceline, " - slipped my mind..."

Jake crossed his arms, looking at bubba and Marceline, " What's up with you two lately?"

"Oh...it's uh...", bubba started, "We're good...we've just been kinda busy lately...with things...", jake looked as if he might be onto the two of them. He had flashbacks of cake, who tended to be pretty good at reading people, most of the time.

"Can we come in already?", Marceline, said, irritated.

"Oh...yeah yeah...come on in marce...", finn let the two in, along with her dog, who looked at jake in excitement.

Finn pulled bubba aside, "Well, if you swordfight, can you teach me and biz? I wanna see you in action...", he looked at the prince hopefully, "I've never met many people who fight like that, please? It'd be so cool!"

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt, it's been awhile...", he said, finn grinned, and pulled bubba by his arm towards the ladder, "C'mon I'll show you my swords...You can pick one out...". Bubba glanced back at his friend, giving her a wink and he followed the human up the ladder. Marceline shook her head and laughed, sitting on the couch with her dog in her lap, he closed his eyes for a quick nap.

Jake eyed her.

"You sure you guys have nothing going on?", he asked again, taking a seat next to her.

"What? No...", she snickered before transforming her face into that of a wolf's, making jake jump back in fear.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH, oh come on Marceline!", He said, irritated, and making a pout face.

She snickered, "What? I'm just here to have some fun with you weenies, it's been awhile anyway...what have y'all been up to...?", she petted her dog gently and laid back on the couch, enjoying the peace of their home.

Jake gave her a look, "Bonnie set us on a mission, we've been fighting mutant zombie rats outta the breakfast kingdom for a few days now, we're here resting...", jake stretched out his legs , literally.

Marceline nodded in approval, "At least you guys sound like you had fun..."

"Yeah, we did...a little bruised all over our bods but we're good...", jake's stomach growled, "But now we gotta eat...". He got up off the couch and went into the kitchen, using his abilities to garb a whole bunch of food.

"So you guys...?", he said, Bringing the conversation back to her and bubba, "What's up between you two...?". Marceline raised her eyebrow, "What makes you think that their is even anything between us in the first place?"

"I don't know...something to do with how you look at each other, mess around, smooch...", he said, marceline looked as if she'd seen a ghost when she heard that last part, she gave the dog a look.

"H-How did you...W-we didn't..."

"Uhhhh, I-I shouldn't have said that...", he mumbled, "Uhhh, forget I said anything!"

Marceline immediately got up off the couch and growled at jake, making a terrifying face, "HOW DO YOU KNOW!?". She grabbed him and held him up to her snarling face, he cowered, "I-I...Don't KILL ME! I-I was just doing what pb asked me!"

Marceline dropped him.

"What...?", she said.

Jake cowered, "Don't kill me vampire!"

Marceline looked at him, "Pb...asked you to do... _what_ exactly?"

Jake was shaking in fear, at a loss for words, boy he was in big trouble now. He used his hands to cover his face, "Look the princess just wanted us to keep an eye on you two, so we've been just doing that..."

"You guys have been **_spying_** on us?", she said, her eyes glowed red.

"The princess just wanted to know what was happening between you two, so...she told us to keep an eye on you when you were on your date...", marceline crossed her arms. "Why didn't she tell me?", she asked the dog, he shrugged in response.

"She thought you wouldn't approve, she just kinda wanted to know what the donk was happening...", he calmed down. Marceline blew some hair outta her face, "So she wanted to know what was going on for herself, what? Was my word not good enough?".

Jake shrugged, and shaked in fear a little, but marceline calmed down, looking a little sad.

"Gee bonnie...my personal life isn't your business...", she pouted and took a seat back on the couch, jake looked very guilty. He slowly took a seat next to the vampire queen, "You okay?"

"no...I know pb spies on everyone...but **_me_** , really? Look, that kiss was private...that was a private moment, you guys weren't supposed to know about that until...until felt like it...", she laid on the couch now, on her side. Her hair fell on her face, she huffed, she didn't know what to say now. She thought pb knew about the kiss when she told her about it herself, but now she knew she knew about it the entire time.

She felt almost betrayed by her best friend.

She hugged her arms, "How long have you two been keeping an eye on us?", she asked quietly.

"Just the one time, I swear...she just wanted to make sure things went ok...", jake said quickly.

"Why?"

"You were attacked by your crazy fans, remember? She had us come to make sure something like that wouldn't happen..."

"But-?"

"But you handled it alright on your own...and me and finn had to handle the crowds after you left...", he said, marceline smiled slightly, "Of course we handled it...we...make a great team sometimes..."

Jake nodded, "You went all nuts on those guys, so did bubba...he looked pretty angry..."

Marceline bit her lip, "Not as angry as I'll be when I see bonnie again". Jake gave her an empathetic look, "Hey, don't get too angry with her, you know she only did it because she cares about you..."

"Yeah...well...", she huffed, "She has a funny way of doing it..."

Jake wrapped his arm around marceline, multiple times, "I'm sorry...you gonna be ok?"

"I don't know dude...I just feel a little betrayed, is all..."

Schwabl plopped onto the couch, trying to lick it's master's face. She picked up the small dog, and held it close, "Whatever...I'll...It's fine...", she looked at the ceiling, wondering what bubba was up to with finn.

She turned towards jake, "Hey...got anything to eat?"

"Yeah...uh sure...", jake got up and went towards the kitchen and looked for any read he could find for the vampire queen, "Hey don't worry about it, things are gonna work out, alright? you two are bros, and you'll always be bros..."

"I'm glad you think so...", she said.

-

"AHA!"

Finn lunged his sword towards bubba, but in a quick movement, he blocked it perfectly.

"Nice try human...", he said, "But you need to be a little better if you're gonna take me down..."

"OH YEAH?!"

"YEAH!", he said, half laughing.

The clinking of swords beamed through the treetop, the top laughed as they fighted. Bubba was especially happy, oh how he had missed action such as this, he was having way too much fun trying to take down Finn.

He was a pretty good fighter, handy with the sword and fought almost rather aggressively, Finn was clearly having alot of fun. He wouldn't stop laughing, bubba had to keep telling him to focus and keep his form.

Not that he expected Finn to listen.

Bubba kept his cool as they fought, breathing in slowly, and never losing his focus off of Finn and his actions.

Eventually he managed to use his sword to knock Finn's out of his hand, he grinned, "I win...". This made five times he'd won since they started, Finn was struggling to do what bubba was doing, clearly not understanding.

But he was also too excited to have him around.

"That...was AWESOME!", he said aloud, "You're pretty good..."

The two of them shook hands

"Thank you very much Finn...", he said, catching his breath, "You're pretty handy with that sword yourself..."

They both sat down on the floor, both felt sweaty and gross all over, bubba didn't know what to say when he saw marceline again, he felt disgusting. Finn had taken his hat off when the heat got too much for him, now he was was trying to put it back on, pushing all his hair inside.

Bubba was instantly reminded of fionna.

He didn't recall ever having sword fights with fionna in the past, but then again, he never did have the time to try and train her himself.

"So, you wanna go another round?", he asked Finn, "Or are you chicken?", he gave him a challenging smile.

"Yeah? are you CHICKEN Finn?", came a voice, coming onto the rooftop, with her hat and long gloves.

"Marceline!", both said in unison.

"Hey dweebs...", she said, "I got bored, so I came up to see you two fail..."

Finn laughed, "US Fail? Nah marce we both are kicking butt up here...he's super good and stuff...", bubba beamed at the compliment.

Marceline smirked, "Oh were you now?...Who was winning?", bubba raised his hand, and finn grinned even wider. "He's really good marcy, bet he can teach me some really cool stuff bout sword fighting..."

Bubba turned red, "No...I-I'm not THAT good..."

"Yeah you are! C'mon lets show marcy our skills...", he stood up and picked up his sword, bubba followed suit, knowing that marceline was watching the both of them, he felt less focused with her watching.

"I-I...er..."

"Oh c'mon bubba go ahead...entertain me...", she said, floating in a sitting position. She only knew about his fighting skills from the books, she'd never seen it up close for herself, so this would be a very interesting experience for her.

Bubba felt warmer then he did before, he felt marceline examining him.

Even Finn noticed that he wasn't as focused with marceline in the same area as him, it made the human look between the two of them, remebering that the two of them kissed that one time. He wondered if they were dating, cause things sure didn't look that way.

"You ok...?", he asked.

Bubba, not wanting to admit his embarrassment, quickly responded.

'What?...No...no...i-i'm good...lets begin, shall we?"

Marceline raised an eyebrow, bubba was acting really odd, well, odder than usual. He was mumbling and was trying his hardest not to look at her, she took this as an opportunity to tease him, when he looked at her, she winked, playing with him.

He became more flustered.

When he and finn begun to fight, bubba couldn't focus, losing his footing and being unable to keep his eyes on finn, marceline was being too distracting. Finn eventually managed to knock the prince down.

Marceline laughed, making bubba blush even harder in embarrassment.

Bubba grunted, "S-Shut up..."

"Great job bubba...", she mocked, " You gonna be OK over there?"

He stood up, "Y-You're distracting me!...I-I can't concentrate properly...!", he whined. Finn looked between the two of them, not exactly sure what he should say to either of his friends, but eventually he turned to bubba, "Y-You wanna go again?".

"I-I don't know...", bubba felt hot and embarrassed.

Marceline floated over to him, "Hey...don't worry about me ok? I was only messing with you...". She had a playful look in her eyes, bubba didn't find their "Eye Sex" to be considered "Messing around", but he dropped it.

"Fine, but can you please let me concentrate, what if this was a real fight? And I got hurt?"

She put a hand on his shoulder, "Bubba, if this was a real fight, trust me, it'd never come to this...".

His shoulders sagged, "Alright...whatever, but please just let me focus...OK? Just this once...?". She snickered, finding it amusing how much he was flustered by the idea of her watching him "Play fight".

"Ok bubba, just this once..." She teased, "but you better impress me..."

He gave her a playful salute, "I promise my queen...", he said.

Marceline floated off to the side, this time keeping herself in check as bubba breathed in and got ready for battle. He felt more relaxed now, Finn prepared himself as well, considering how well bubba was at beating him.

they bowed to each other, before getting into position. Finn swung first but bubba easily blocked it, they clicked swords multiple times, bubba was on his a-game, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of marceline again.

Finn wasn't holding back though, trying to overthrow the prince.

Marceline watched them both, somewhat bored that she couldn't mess with bubba at the moment, she watched them swing at each other in a bored mood. But she was kinda interested at seeing bubba fight for once...

Finn was right, he WAS pretty good.

Now focused, bubba easily managed to get the human off balance, he fell down and dropped his sword.

He heard marceline clapping, slowly, like some sort of villain.

"Well well bubba...you did it...nice job...", she complimented, eyeing him up and down, "You actually kicked his butt...nice job..."

"HEY!", Finn whined .

she ruffled his gooey hair in praise, making him blush, "Heh...thanks...", he helped Finn stand up, the two of them shake hands, deciding to head inside and take a rest break. Finn went ahead, telling Jake about the fight.

Marceline looked at bubba, "Hey...schwabl is downstairs, I think he might be ready to head back out...after we're done of course...", he hugged himself, " Yeah...Of course...sounds like fun..."

She took note of his hint of sadness, "You're having fun here aren't you?"

He nodded, "Reminds me of home...reminds me of fionna..."

she took his arm, "We'll visit again...alright?"

"Alright...", he said, "But that better be a promise..."

She hugged him, "Yeah..."

She thought about jake and finn's spying, wondering if she should tell bubba about what they did. But he seemed so happy, just hanging with them, and she didn't think it was best to spoil his fun.

He parted, "Let's eat with them then we can head out alright?".

"Okay, whatever makes you happy...", she said.

He hesitated, before lifting her head for a small kiss on her forehead.

"Thank you..."

He went back downstairs immediately, marceline watched him leave, glad to see him so happy. She thought a bit about jake and bonnie's reasons for spying, suddenly, she didn't feel so angry about it anymore.

She cared about bubba, she cared about his safety and his health.

And so did bonnie, even if she had a funny way of showing it.

She gave a light smile before following bubba down the ladder to have a lunch break with her friends, she was gonna chat with bonnie, but she wasn't gonna blow out on her. They had a mission to focus on, and that had to come first.

Maybe some people need to care too much sometimes.

Schwabl patted over to her side immediately, and her friends looked at her and happiness.

"C'mon marce, what kinda red would you like?", Jake said, still slightly embarrassed about earlier.

She bit her lip, she was enjoying seeing her friends hang out.

And bubba's smiling face.

"Don't worry about it...", she said.

 **Hey guys!**

 **Sorry bout lack of updates, i've been kind of busy.**

 **Not to mention i currently have 11 stitches in my right arm due to injury. :P**

 **But i plan on making sure i get some good chapters in.**

 **Also, check out my friend, Mysterious-Thingy, on here!**

 **He writes good gumceline fics too!**

 **Also had to reupload, sorry bout that.**

 **Had the weird problem again.**

 **Cya soon!**


	15. Secrets

Bubba felt himself sweat as he dug up some of the soil in marceline's garden.

"Ugh...marceline...could use some kind of help over here!"

Marceline sat on the porch, waiting him, she snapped out of her trance.

"Oh...right...sorry..."

She floated over to him, because of the intense heat, he was wearing a tank top and shorts. Hew wanted to plant fresh fruits and vegetables in marceline's garden, and it was becoming more exhausting by the minute.

Marceline had her sun hat on, as well as a tank top and shorts, she wasn't a big fan of gardening. She almost wondered why she even had a garden, considering she lived in a cave to begin with.

Oh well, it gave them something to do.

While Bonnie was busy with whatever, Finn and Jake off on a mission to find who might have written in IK's book, and Ik being...well Ik, bubba and Marcy we're having boring everyday lives.

Marcy didn't mind though, she was tired of bonnie nagging her about how she hasn't told bubba where he came from, or Finn and Jake being all weird about her from their spying, it was quiet and kinda peaceful.

"Marceline...please, It's hard with just me..."

Well, sorta.

She helped dig up some more holes to plant more seeds in, the heat was annoying both of them, even if her skin wasnt exposed to the sun itself. Bubba even looked as if he was melting slightly, making him more sticky.

He also looked frustrated, if at the garden, her, or something else she didn't know.

Marcy should've seen this coming though, in all her readings of Simon's books, bubba was pictured as a sweet, gentle individual. But when frustrated and stressed he could become unpleasant and scary.

She almost felt as if she could predict every word bubba was going to say, she knew him inside and out, his fears, his memories, how he likes to see the world, what he wishes he could've had.

And yet she didn't know how he'd react if she told him about the fanfiction.

How many times has she tried? 5? 6?

Ugh, did it even matter? It was probably better he didn't even know anyway, live in this world with her, obvious, start a new life of his own without having to feel the pain of his past anymore.

But the guilt, it was scraping into her head every second of her life.

It was a torment that would never seem to end, and considering the torment she faced in the past, it was pretty bad for her mentally. Especially since she had grown attached to bubba over the course of a few months, and letting him down felt worse.

She would just look at him sometimes, and wonder what was going on in that mind, if he was angry with her or maybe he knew something she didn't. It was hard to tell, his mind was his own now, and things were so much different for him.

They both patted the dirt, and begun to water the soil.

"Good work...", bubba wiped his brow, "We should've done this sooner, it's way too hot out...", he panted, "Let's clean up and head inside...I'll make some lemonade and stuff...". He didn't hesitate to run into her home, he was done with this heat.

And marceline was feeling it too, she smelt herself, yuck...

At least bubba was constantly smelling good all the time, it took forever for her to even clean all of her hair.

She wandered back into the house, bubba was in the kitchen as usual, squeezing some lemons in order to make lemonade. Marceline took a seat, removing her hat and gloves, "Sucks out there...", she said, "But maybe we can make fun off this heat...if you want to?"

Bubba looked up from his squeezing, "Hmm? Like what?"

"Basketball? maybe a trip to the beach?", she suggested, " I mean, we could make the best of all this instead of lying around and being bored all the time...How about the beach? I mean, do you mind swimming and stuff?"

Bubba finished the lemonade and poured a glass for each of them, "I don't know...I don't know if i have a bathing suit...", she grinned, "Nothing wrong with swimming in your underwear bubba...". She took a sip of his lemonade, "Mmmm good...so what'dya say bubs?"

"I mean...I guess it could be kinda fun..."

She took that as a full on yes, "It's been awhile...we can head out later if you want, I won't exactly be able to do much till the sun gets down...". She scratched her head, "But it'll be kinda fun...i mean, i'd hang out on the beach with my mom sometimes when I was little...we'd collect shells together..."

He smiled, "She's sounds like a lovely woman..."

Marceline sighed, "Yeah...she was..."

He took a sip of lemonade, " It must be hard...not being able to go out in the sun...". Marceline shrugged, "yeah, but I've gotten used to it...it hurts though, it's like having the worlds worst sunburn...it's so painful..."

"I can imagine...", he said, "I wish i could help you with that..."

"No..no, a long time ago, I decided i didn't want to be a vampire anymore...", she said, "I-It caused a lot of issues and put my friends in danger, and I made the choice to be a vampire again..."

"Oh..."

"Although...it'd be pretty cool to be a vampire and not worry about burning...", she said, " i have healing powers, but it doesn't prevent the pain from happening, i bet Bonnie could solve it or something..."

Bubba smiled, "Vampire sunscreen, I could see it now...yeah, you should try asking about it, I mean, if you'll be in pain maybe we shouldn't go...", he started, he looked her up and down, " I mean, I-I don't want you to get hurt out there..."

"I'll be fine...", she said, " I've been out in the sun before, and I know how to protect myself, Besides...nothing wrong with lounging under an umbrella, chilling out to some tunes...", she stated, "Maybe we could share my earphones...?"

Bubba blushed slightly, "Well sure...but...what kind of music do you like?", he quickly took another sip in order to hide his face from her sight, she laughed at this cute notion. Bubba was clearly still a little fizzled about their "Love".

"Eh...rock mostly, but good rock...bet you'd like it...", she said.

"Ok..."

"Awww relax bubba, it's just a causal hang out..."

He pouted, marceline raised an eyebrow, "Is something wrong bubba?". He tapped his fingers on the table, "I don't know...I guess I just feel a little weird about it, you see, The last time I went to the beach I sorta embarrassed myself in front of my friends..."

Marceline immediately dug through her mind to figure out what he was talking about.

"Oh...the time you tried to help fionna swim and a lot of critters got stuck to your skin..." she said, going slower at the end, She wasnt supposed to know that, and bubba seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"How did you..?"

"It's nothing..."

She took a sip, embarrassed, hoping bubba would ignore what she just said to him.

He didn't, however, and was still looking at her suspiciously, "Yeah...things got stuck to me...fish, crabs, shells...everyone was looking at me..", he bit his lip, uncomfortable at the mere thought of it.

Marceline suddenly felt bad, "Uh...sorry I brought it up...".

"It's fine...It's fine...", he said, "We can still go and stuff, if you really want to...".

He finished his drink, "Well, if we plan on going, I suggest we bathe...and get some stuff ready...i'll go first...ok?", he stood up and cleaned out his drinking glass, and left the kitchen. Marceline watched him leave, "You mad with me bubba?".

"No...", he answered, which didn't sound entirely truthful.

He went up the ladder leaving marceline alone with her thoughts and regrets. Dang! Why did she have to let her big mouth take over?! Bubba now felt suspicious of her! She felt like such an idiot!

Glob!

She took another sip of her drink, wondering what to say when he returned.

Bubba, meanwhile, was soaking, trying to relax to the best of his advantage. But the only thing he could think about was what marceline said, he didn't remember telling that story to her before, but how could she have known?

He was starting to wonder if marceline was being honest with him.

He suddenly had flashbacks, to marceline telling him to interfere with her stuff, her hidden stuff. What could she be hiding? From him? It's not like he hadn't been lied to before, fionna and Marshall had done such on multiple occasions.

But this felt personal, considering marceline seemed to know things he considered private.

He calmed himself down, he didn't want to be mad with marceline, there was no telling if she'd done anything wrong anyway. He managed to smile and lie back in the tub, thinking to himself about what'll happen next.

Marceline, such a mystery.

He finished washing up and dried himself off, his wet hair sticking to the towel a few times, he got dressed quickly. He walked over to the ladder, but stopped, he eyed towards marceline's closet. Awhile back, marceline forbid him from entering, he wondered if she was keeping anything secret in there.

He could feel himself breaking slightly.

He promised to respect all her privacy, and not go snooping in her things, but part of him wondered if she was keeping anything hidden from him in her closet. Guilty, he opened the closet door, she keep an awful lot of clothes in there, most she probably made herself.

There were some boxes on the floor of the closet, he remembered that the last time he checked, there was a box of books in here. However, they didn't seem to be here now, they were all gone.

How come? He remembered asking about those books before, why did she remove them?

He carefully closed the closet, he felt dirty, breaking his promise to marceline like that. But he didn't find anything bad, right? It wasn't that bad?

But he'd intentionally tried to snoop...

Feeling a little uneasy, he went back down the ladder, marceline was lying down on the couch, her dog lying on her chest. She looked up at the sight of them, "You alright bubs? You look a little pale over there..."

"No...no, i'm...fine...", he lied, making him feel worse, "I-It's uh...your turn..."

"Ok then...", she said, she stood up. She looked at him, still concerned, "you sure you gonna be okay bubs? You look pretty bad...did i do anything wrong or something?" She suddenly felt a pit in her stomach.

"No marcy...", he reassured, being gentle towards her, "I-It's not your fault...at all...I want you to know that alright?".

She bit her lip, "Ok...are you gonna be alright dude?".

"Don't you worry about me, just get ready...we should go out and have fun..." he said, trying to keep an upbeat attitude. He gave her a weak smile, trying his best to forget his current worries.

Marceline was skeptic, worried something was clearly up with him, but chose to ignore it.

Instead, she hugged him , "Hey...sorry bout earlier alright? I-I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable...". Bubba blushed, he hadn't seen that coming , he hugged her back. "It's fine...lets head to the beach and forget alright?"

"Sounds like a date dude...", she let him go, "Alright I'll be right back...you can feed schwabl, I'll see ya in a bit babe...". She floated upstairs really quickly, bubba sighed, he couldn't risk losing their friendship over this.

But what was she keeping from him?

He sat on the couch, cringing when he sat down on the hard seat, schwabl plopped onto his lap. Bubba patted his soft head, "Bet you're hungry little fella, i'll feed you in a sec, don't worry..."

Typical marceline, waiting till he got back in order to escape feeding the dog.

She certainty was unique, one of a kind.

"C'MON BUBBA! WHY YOU SO SLLOOOWW!?"

"BECAUSE I CAN'T FLY YOU CHEATER!"

He chased after her, both laughing as they made it to the shore.

Marceline sat in mid air, her sunhat keeping the sun from harming her. Bubba was carrying supplies, such as a basket and a umbrella, just in case. He sat them down, it was going to get dark out soon, perfect for marceline.

They were gonna watch the sunset, he couldn't help but smile about that.

He only wished their friend's could've joined them, bonnie was currently on a trip (Making him wonder if it had anything to do with them), and Finn and jake had left to escort her. And although marceline mentioned a flame princess, he was pretty sure she wouldn't join them near the ocean.

He put the umbrella up and set up an area for the two of them, marceline immediately got under it , she took her hat off, and started to take off her shirt.

"MARCELINE!", bubba said, flustered, he tried to cover his eyes.

"Bubba...", she teased, "I told you, we can swim in our underwear...relax..."

She put her shirt and jeans next to her, and leaned back on her towel, "Ahhhhh...it feels good out here...". Bubba was still red, he tried to ignore her attire and took a deep breath, he sat down next to her.

"Yeah...I suppose it is...the ocean sounds peaceful...", he watched the waves crash against the shore, "No wonder you wanted to come here...I bet it's nice to come to a peaceful beach after rough days..."

"Pretty much, I'd come down here every once in awhile to write songs...and my friends would join me sometimes...".

"Heh...yeah, I wish I did more things like this with my friends...,I guess sometimes...i just-..", he started, sighing, he laid down on the towel next to her. He looked almost sad, marceline saw him playing with the buttons on his shirt.

"-Felt like a third wheel?...", she answered for him, he didn't respond, but his silence gave her the feeling she was right. "Hey...you know, I felt like a burden sometimes, to my friends...I thought people just didn't like me, kinda why I isolated myself..."

"Really? I don't know why, You seem pretty cool to me..."

"Thanks...same to you, I mean...yeah...you're cool and stuff..", she said awkwardly, "I mean, I think it was because I was a vampire and stuff...and maybe because I was just kinda scary and weird to some people.."

"Well marce, you know what I think?", he asked her.

"Hmm?"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with either of us...I think, we're just unlucky sometimes...", marceline looked at him in question, "Really? I mean...Everybody has got flaws out there...it's not like either of us are perfect..."

"I know, but maybe...maybe if things had been different..."

"I get it...", she said, she looked at him guiltily, " I mean, there are times I wish my life could've been different, that my mom could still be here...that simon could be normal again...but I know i can't change any of it..."

"Your flaws make your unique marceline...", he said, staring up at the umbrella, "We'd be nothing without them, I just wish my life could've gone right for me sometimes... like the tings I truly wanted could've happened in my favor.."

He suddenly thought about their kiss and sighed, "But I guess if things had gone in my favor that night, we wouldn't have become friends...". There was silence except for the sounds of birds and the ocean, Bubba disgruntled, took off his shirt. Marceline was originally going to tease him about it, but she stayed silent as he removed his jeans as well.

"Hey...I'm going to go for a quick swim, I'll...be right back okay?"

She didn't say anything.

Bubba got up and waded out into the cool water, and the hot sun, he only hoped he wouldn't melt out here. Gum was stronger than most candies (imagine if a chocolate candy person came out here), but it was possible for him to be reduced to a sticky pile of gum if he wasn't careful.

He looked back at marceline, she didn't seem to be having a lot of fun back there on her blanket.

He ran over to their campsite and took a pail out of the basket, and returned to the ocean, he filled up the bucket and brought in back to marceline. And smirking, he splashed her with it's water.

"HEEYY!", she hissed, bubba laughed. "How are you doing now?"

She gave him a fake pout, "you'll pay for that...", He smirked, "I'd like to see you try missy...". Taking that challenge, she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down, she flipped him over and pinned him on the towel.

"I win..."

He laughed awkwardly, "Heh...yeah you do...".

she got up off of him, "I hope the sun comes down soon...we could go surfing, or just have a good old fashioned splash fight together...". Bubba smiled, he felt his face grow redder by the minute, ""You sure you can beat me?"

"Oh don't even try to challenge me princey...", she playfully punched his shoulder, "You won't even stand a chance against me...".

"You'd be surprised what i can handle marce...", he teased, "I've been through a lot in my life..."

"Yeah...I kno-", bubba gave her a bizarre look, making her change her words, "I mean...I can tell...". Bubba thought back to his earlier suspicion of marceline and how she seemed to know about him so much.

"Well, nothing has been harder then being separated from my home...", he said, "If I ever go back, i'll be a changed man, that's for sure...". He could only imagine fionna and Marshall's reactions to his return.

They be so relieved, angry, upset, and happy, all at the same time.

He sighed, "Hey marcy...I-I Had dreams...about my friends, and...they were...it wasn't pleasant.." Marceline looked relatively surprised, "You've been having nightmares, since when..?".

He looked at her in a guilty fashion, "Since I've moved in, I've only had two of them...but my friends, they...they said you weren't real...and I freaked...". She blushed slightly, "You were upset about me not being real?"

"Yeah, and I guess it kinda snapped me outta all that...", He blushed too, "I guess the idea of this all being fake kinda freaked me out...I don't wanna believe that all this isn't real, and I wouldn't get to see you again..."

Marceline put a hand on his shoulder, He frowned, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my dreams sooner, I didn't wanna risk you worrying about me so much...I don't like being such a burden to you..."

"You're not a burden bubba...And don't feel ashamed, dreams are weird things...", she said, Remembering some of her own, "And hey...i'm real, you can see me, speak to me, you know i'm real..."

"Yeah i know, but this world is so real and yet so unreal it feels like a dreams sometimes..." he said, "The first night I spent with you, I felt as if i'd wake up back in my bed the next morning...". He took in a deep breath, "I wish my dreams of home were this pleasant..."

"Home starting to become scary in your eyes huh?"

"In a way, I didn't think my friends could be so scary..."

"I'm sorry that's been happening to you..."

"Don't be, it's not your fault, I know my friends,and I have many great memories of them..."

Marceline felt her stomach drop, yeah, the "memories", the ones ice king wrote himself. The ones that weren't even real, but were the ones bubba remembered and cherished, she felt sick to her stomach.

"Hey...bubba, there's something I've been wanting to tell you, for a really long time. And i'm not sure how to say it to you, every time I've tried...it fails, but I need to tell you it before you get hurt..."

"Marcy-"

"And it's not _that_ , It's something more important..."

Bubba listened closely, wondering what this could be. "Is this part of the reason you seem to know me so much?", he asked. She nodded, "I know I should've explained this to you sooner, but you wouldn't believe me..."

She took his hand, " Bubba...what if I told you, that you weren't real? If you were...different...?"

Bubba looked at her, confused, "What do you mean marceline? "

"Bubba, remember Simon's books? His stories?", she said, in a serious manner.

He nodded.

"Bubba...I think you're from them, his stories..."

Bubba started off laughing a little, "Heh...marceline, nah...t-That's too weird...,you were worried about that? I mean, I thought you could read minds or something...". Marceline's face remained serious, and he stopped laughing.

"Marceline, you're being serious? I mean, I just...", he rubbed his face, "I..."

"You don't believe me, do you?", she said, disappointed.

He panicked, "No, no...I Just...I don't know what to think, I mean, are you sure? I mean, how could come from a story, th-that's like CRAZY!", he was starting to stutter and mumble to himself, "I mean, how long have you had this theory?".

She mumbled and brushed her hair out of her face, "Months, awhile..."

"Really?", he blushed, " I mean...Heh..."

She looked concerned, "Back at simon's place that one time, you thought you might've been fictional..."

"Yeah, but I got over it, because I realized how **_weird_** something like that would be...", he said. "I mean, wouldn't something like that mean...that my memories, my kingdom, all my friends...", he barely spoke at the end.

"Never existed?", Marceline finished.

"Yeah..."

She didn't speak, instead she held his hand tighter, as she felt it trembling slightly. Bubba looked as if he was trying his hardest not to cry, and was falling, he was desperately trying to calm himself down. Not look so broken in front of marceline.

"Bubba, are you gonna be okay?", marceline asked him, "I mean, are you angry with me..?"

"No...", he said quickly, "I understand...why you couldn't tell me...". He bit his lip and remembered something, "Wait, during the night we...y'know. Is this what you were trying to tell me..?".

She nodded slowly, making his stomach drop even lower.

"I'm sorry...", he said immediately, panicking, "I-I'm so sorry..!."

"No...don't worry about it..."

"No marceline! I-I...I **_kissed_** you...and you...you we're just trying to tell me, and I- I'm so sorry...", his face was completely red, he removed his hand from hers, "Marceline...I-I'm so sorry...about everything...".

Marceline grabbed his wrist, "Bubba...please, it's really ok...I'm not angry with you...", he was crying, she couldn't imagine how awful he was feeling right now. She reached over, and touched his face, using her thumbs to wipe his tears.

"Hey...calm down...do I look mad?", he looked at her with wide eyes, still ashamed. She felt the side of his face, "Y-You have no regrets bubba...you're perfectly fine...I's my fault...I should've told you sooner...".

"About your theory? Marcy...W'we don't know I-if that's what happened..." he muttered, "I-I don't wanna believe that...that i'll never get home, that i'm just...fake...". Marceline patted his back gently, "It's ok...I-It's just a theory..right?"

He tried to smile, "Yeah...a theory..."

She leaned her head onto his shoulder, "Hey...I don't regret it you know, the whole "kiss" thing...", she bit her lip, not knowing what to say to him. "Bubba...look, I'm not the greatest person out there...and I don't know if i'm the best person out there who can help you...but i'm here for you, ok?"

He sniffled, but managed to mumbled out a slight bit.

"Ok..."

Marceline looked up, the sun was finally coming down, slowly. The colors were turning dark, and and stars starting to come out, she could see him watching them, looking off into the distance.

"It's beautiful...", he said, quietly. Marceline nodded, "Yeah...it really is...I forget how pretty the sunset is sometimes...". The two of them stayed silent as the sun went down, marceline could only wonder what was going on in his head.

His poor, miserable, messed up head.

Bubba leaned his head, lying it on top of hers, she blushed but didn't move her head.

She didn't feel as if it was time for them to swim, or surf, or do anything right now, besides relax and think.

She hugged him gently.

The sounds of waves were soothing.

"Thank you marceline...", he said quietly.

She smiled, " You're welcome...prince.."

 **Arm is fully healed!**

 **And I've returned with a new chapter (If you guys have any chapter ideas, feel free to tell me)**

 **enjoy the drama bomb.**


	16. A Friend In Need

"Bubba...you ok man?", a bored marceline found her roommate lying on her hard couch, on his face.

"I'm...fine...", he said nonchalantly.

"Well, you should eat...you skipped breakfast...", she said, concerned for his well being. He laid still, unmoving, if she didn't know any better she'd probably think he was dead. Bubba moved his face slightly to look at her.

"I now marce...I'm not hungry..."

She put her hand on the top of his head, "Are you sure? I mean...you haven't eaten all day...". He brushed her hand off of him, then regretted doing so seconds after he did it, pressing his face deeper into the hard couch.

"I'm not hungry..."

She grabbed a blanket from the closet and draped it over him, and in a comforting manner, kissed the back of his head, "Ok, just let me know if you need anything...like if you wanna talk or-?". Bubba interrupted her, "I'll be fine...go ahead and eat without me.."

She gave him one last look before going into the kitchen, she'd made food this time, well technically not, she called and got pizza, but she _ **did**_ call. Bubba hadn't set foot in the kitchen for days now, and she better than that to know that it wasn't like him to avoid baking.

Half the time, she couldn't even convince him to get out of the kitchen. He was definitely obsessed with his hobby, there was no doubt about that. It almost reminded marceline of her and her music sometimes.

Sometimes even she couldn't bring herself to sing and play herself when she was down. Although she couldn't recall herself being so upset that she couldn't even bring herself to eat anything.

Maybe because she had to eat in order to keep herself from hurting everybody.

She grabbed a slice and took a bite, watching him, she new she had to do something, but what?

And she couldn't help but feel responsible for this, he felt bad because of her theory, didn't he? There couldn't be any other reason, no reason for him to be acting the way he was, she hadn't felt this bad in awhile.

this was much worse than the last time, much worse.

Bubba looked as if he wanted to die, always on that couch, moping, not even facing her.

He barely ate, and barely spoke, only getting up to use the bathroom. His actions were scaring her, not in the same way she scared him sometimes, but that way he was acting made her worried that he'd never recover.

He didn't seem to be angry at her, more angry with himself.

Not that that made her feel any better.

She suddenly felt sick to her stomach, like she couldn't even eat more of her food, she continued watching him from afar, wondering what she could possible do to help him right now. Especially since he didn't seem like he felt like talking, to anyone.

She's tried convincing him to bake with her, read with her, or even sing with her a few times in order to cheer him up. But bubba always told her he wasn't in the mood and continued to mope, marceline could've left the house out of boredom, but she didn't want to leave him alone.

Finn and jake even called a few times, wanting them to come over and battle, but bubba couldn't even get back into doing **_that_**. He was looking thin, and less like a prince in the last few days.

Marceline wondered if he'd even stopped bathing.

She bit her lip, should she call bonnie? She promised to keep tabs with her, but this felt personal between her and bubba then anything Bonnie could handle. She wandered back over to the living room, "Hey...bubba, can you please eat with me? Please?". She shook his shoulder, and flopped him over on his back, his eyes looked puffy and he was red-faced . He looked at her, "Marceline...I said no..."

"Please...i'm worried about you..."

He sniffed, "Look, i'm not worth worrying over...just eat, you need it more than I do...", he moaned into the couch. She narrowed her eyes, " No bubba, you are very much worth worrying over, c'mon, you gotta eat something..."

Determined, she put her arms under his back and legs and picked him up , bridal style. He didn't fight her and she placed him in his seat and put some pizza on his plate. He looked at it sadly, making her even more worried.

"Bubba...please eat something..."

She'd seen him upset, but he looked more than upset, he looked DESTROYED. Bubba looked up at her saddened face before slowly bringing the slice to his lips and taking a small bite, marceline felt more comfortable watching him swallow.

He finished the slice slowly, marceline hadn't even taken another bite of her own, too busy watching him.

He only did it to get her off his back, so he could mope in peace without her bothering him. He didn't feel like having her around right now, he needed space to think, needed to be lost in his own thoughts.

"Happy?", he said, he stood up, "I'm gonna take a bath...". And without another word, he went up the ladder to the upstairs of the house, their shared room, marceline watched him leave, she had to call bonnie.

She was an expert on psychology? Right?

Right?!

She got her phone and dialed her friend's number, "Pick up...pick...up...pick up...", she grumbled into it. Last thing she needed right now was for her not to reply, she needed some kind of guidance.

Especially since bubba looked as if he might need help from someone better than her.

Bonnie picked up, she sounded sleepy, "Marceline? Hey...what's up?", she was in her lab as usual, scanning over some notes. Marceline's call had woken her up, "Hey...bon...how are you..?", bubblegum yawned, "Fine, me and the boys got back yesterday...spent all day going over my theory on...on..."

"BONNIE!", marceline screamed.

"WHAT WHAT?!", she got up, "Oh...sorry marceline...I dozed off, Just been working on my current theory of bub's existence...how is he anyway?..", marceline twirled stands of her hair, "Well, that's kinda why I called...I did it bon I told him the truth..."

She grinned, "It's about time you did that...how long did it take again?"

"Shut up..", she pouted, "Anyway...he's been weird...he won't eat or talk or anything, it's worse then the last time...". Bonnie blinked herself awake, "That's not good marceline, tried talking to him...?"

"Well, no duh I've tried...", she remarked, "But he's so broken bon...he's falling apart right in front of me. The guy hasn't even **_touched_** the kitchen, he ** _loves_** baking, this has to be serious if he won't bake anymore..."

PB bit her lip, "Marceline, just do what you can, he has to be going through some things, and as his friend, you gotta do whatever you can to get him outta this...he clearly means a lot to you, just talk to him tonight, and i'll think of some other solutions if necessary, ok?"

"Just talk?.."

"It worked last time..."

"This is different...", she said, "A lot different...last time it was because I hurt his feelings, now...he's upset because everything he's ever known isn't real, I mean, think about it bon! How would you feel if you woke up, and found out your kingdom never existed, everything you worked for! POOF!"

She bit her lip, "Yeah, you got a point...but don't worry, If i can figure out how this was done...he may be able to go home.."

She bit her lip, "Yeah, that's re-assuring...i guess, I just hope he gonna be ok..."

"He will, as long as you stay by his side...", she informed, "He needs someone to get him through this, so do what you can, even if he doesn't seem like he wants it...if you really think he needs help, then help him..."

"You act like this is so easy bon...", she grunted, "It's not, It's not easy to talk to him about things like this...". She thought back to their conversation about being just friends, and just how awkward the entire situation was in general.

"I never said It was marceline..", Bonnie said, yawning, "But he needs you, and if worse comes to worse, we can get him some help...". Marceline shuddered, she couldn't picture him getting much worse.

She bit her lip, "Well, as long as he's fine...I guess it doesn't matter...", she sighed, "I just want to make sure he's fine again, I'll do whatever it takes...". Bonnie smiled, "Good, I'm sorry I can't be too much help right now, but I know you can handle it Marcy..."

Marceline nodded, "Alright, it's kinda lame compared to your normal solutions, but If you think it'll really help him..."

"You're a good friend marceline, you're his closest friend...just let him know he's never alone...he needs you right now", she gave another yawn, "I gotta go marceline...thanks for calling, i'll let you know more about my research soon ok?..."

"Yeah yeah...", she said, "See you bon..."

She hung up, rubbing her face in irritation.

Talk? Just talk? She was hoping for something more clever from bonnie...

But it was all she had, and bonnie wasn't usually wrong, she stood up and cleaned up the mess before heading into her room. Bubba wasn't out yet, she laid on their bed, awaiting him. After awhile, she became worried, he'd been in there much longer then he usually was, and there was no sign of him.

She knocked on the bathroom door, "Yo...uh bubs? Are you ok? You've been in there for awhile...". She didn't get a response and felt more worried, "Bubba please answer? Please?! I need to know you're ok!".

She felt worse by each second he didn't answer.

She felt her stomach drop, what if something happened to him, what it he got himself knocked out? What if he was kidnapped?

 _What if he drowned..._

That's it, she had to break the door down, embarrassment was worth the risk. She transformed her right arm into one of a monsters, ready to break down the door, but not before trying one more time.

"Bubba? Please...answer...", the deathly silence was killing her, "B-bubba...i'm gonna bust the door and get you out...ok?". Nervously, she hit the door lightly, trying to break the lock, she hit it a few times, trying to the bust the entire door off it's hinges.

She hit it one more time, and the door was unlocked, she rushed in.

The sight horrified her, bubba was lying on the floor, wearing nothing but a towel, his eyes were closed and he didn't seem to be moving. Some bottles were next to him, clearly from under the sink.

She got on her knees and shook him, "Bubba...please...wake up, please...". She was in denial, no...he couldn't be...

His pulse! She had to flip him over and check if he was still breathing!

She flipped him over and checked his pulse, he face sighed in relief, he was breathing...

Then why wasn't he waking up?

She noticed the water on the floor, he must have fell and knocked himself out. She calmed herself down, he was alive, he was alive and well and he wasn't freaking dead and lying on her bathroom floor.

She picked up his body, bridal style, and took him into their room. She laid him on the bed, she felt his head, only a slight bump. She went back into the bathroom and drained the tub, and cleaned up the wet floor.

God, that left her her so worried...

She went back into the room and sat down next to the prince, he made small noises now, sounding like he was coming back to reality. He moaned and reached up to feel his head , feeling the bump on his head.

she pulled him into a hug, "Geez...dude...don't EVER scare me like THAT again...I...I thought you were DEAD...", her head rested on his shoulder. She was trying not to cry, she hadn't felt so panicked in a long time.

Bubba took a moment to come back to reality before he noticed she was holding onto him rather tightly, he blushed in embarrassment, "Marceline?...What...are you..?", then he realized he was only in a towel, "I...wh-?"

She felt his head, "dude...you really hurt yourself...you were knocked out..."

"I...Was?"

"Yeah..."

He sat up, trying to recall everything that happened, his face was still red but he still looked miserable. Marceline released him, "Hey...I want to talk with you, are you ok with that? Please?"

He nodded, slowly, not really facing her.

"Bubba...you're worrying me, like a lot...I mean, i can't imagine how you feel right now...", in response, he eyes dropped a little, still not looking at her. She continued, " Look, I...I want you to know that i'm always here for ya, and...you can talk to me about anything..."

She held his hand gently, "You...don't need to be scared to talk to me, I-I've had a rough life...been through the worst of the worst. And even though all that was a lot on me, as a little girl, I kept going...I know fear, and I've known it while all alone..."

Bubba didn't flinch when she held his hand, finding it almost comforting.

"and...I know you're probably scared, and worried, but i'm not going anywhere...I -I promised to look after you...", she tried to give him a comforting smile, "We're a team...right? I've always got your back, and i'm never gonna let anything happen to you...it'll work out...everything will work out, I promise..."

He looked at her, he didn't respond, but he laid his head on her shoulder.

And that was good enough for her, she kissed his forehead, trying to cheer him up.

"You should get dressed...", she said, now starting to blush, "We should both rest...". Bubba stood up and picked some clothes to sleep in, he looked at marceline, and it took her awhile before she figured out what he was trying to say.

"Oh...right, bathroom door is broken...y-you change up here, i'll be right back...", she awkwardly went back down the ladder, "Call me if you need anything ok?". Bubba finished quickly and it didn't take long till they both were lying in bed.

Marceline couldn't sleep however, she was watching him, perhaps worried he'd vanish forever if she wasn't looking.

She wasn't surprised though, she spent her entire life losing the people she cared about, in one way or another. But this was genuinely scary, at least with simon she never dealt with the fear of his passing, or had to witness anything like it.

Sure, she's seen dead bodies before, but never one of someone this close to her (Physically and literally).

Bubba was sleeping soundly next to her, breathing softly, he still looked pretty worn out, even for someone who washed up not that long ago. He looked almost pale, like the pink had faded out of his cheeks entirely.

She couldn't help feeling this was another one of her faults.

She closed her eyes, she needed to rest, whether she liked it or not. She found herself in the most comfortable position she could make and sunk her face into the pillow, it wasn't too long before she passed out into a dream.

Marceline dreamt of her friends, all together once again, spending time in bonnie's castle. Bonnie was doing what she usually did when hosting, making sure everything was great and her guests were satisfied. And that involved picking out things to do, and getting the right kind of food.

Finn and jake were just being themselves, the weenies, wrestling each other in the corner to see who'd pick the first movie to watch. Laughing, and only giving up when snacks were released and they could eat up.

This was the life.

Marceline couldn't help but smile, till a flash of pink caught her attention, and it wasn't Bonnie.

"Bubba?...", she said, following the sight.

It led her to a blocked hallway, with no way around it, she looked at it, very much confused. He couldn't have went through it, right? She turned around, maybe her friends could help her find him.

But when she turned around, everyone was gone. The space was empty, of people or even furniture, and empty dark room. She walked back into it, something wasn't right, then she heard whispering , it came from nowhere and everywhere.

"What the...?"

Then something fell from the ceiling, crashing next to her, it brought chills down her spine. She didn't want to know what it was, but she carefully turned her head around, knowing she had to know what it was.

She backed away, it was bubba.

She felt herself start to panic, his gooey skin was partially splattered on the floor, and he wasn't moving. This dream was starting to freak her out, she knelt down slowly, and touched his face.

"Bubba...? Hey...please wake up! ", he wasn't breathing.

Then he grabbed her arm, tightly, scaring her.

"Y-you...you've failed me...", he gasped, as if he couldn't breathe.

She tried to get out of his grip, but her powers weren't working, she yanked. "LET ME GO! Y-YOU'RE NOT BUBBA!. He tightened his grasp, "Y-you...failed me...let me die...", she was trying to kick him off, "Bubba...No...i'd never.."

"You...left me to die..."

Marceline woke up with a start, breathing heavily, trying to calm herself down. She felt her arm, it was fine, just another one of her weird dreams again. Bubba was fine and he wasn't dead, she'd just been freaking out.

"God...bubba..I-"

She tensed when she didn't feel his warm body sleeping next to her, she turned to look. Bubba wasn't in the bed anymore, in fact, it looked as if he changed clothes. She got out of the bed immediately, and went down the ladder.

Bubba wasn't anywhere in sight, but a note was left on the counter.

Nervously, she picked it up.

She recognized bubba's writing immediately, making her feel even more scared.

_  
 _  
Marceline,_

I wanted to start off by saying, that this isn't you fault...

Everything you've done for me means everything to me.

But you and I both know that i'm not fine, And that I'm not going to get better.

I'm not going to be a burden on you anymore, there's no point to being out here, nothing other than to make things worse.

It'll be morning by the time you receive this, and i want you to know the times we've shared have been some of the best i've ever had.

I couldn't have asked for a better friend, but it's time for me to face the truth.

I'm never going to return home.

Don't worry about me, i'm gonna head to a better place, and maybe someday, we'll see each other again.

And marceline, i love you...

And i wish for the best for you.."

, Bubba

She dropped the note and put on some boots, rushing out the door, he couldn't have gotten far. It was raining outside tonight, but she didn't care, she violently sniffed the air, for any sign of bubba.

She had to find him before...

She didn't even wanna think about it.

It was dark out, she could barely see anything out here, the rain was clouding her vision. It was raining harder than she thought, she hoped he hadn't gotten struck by lighting or anything.

She didn't know where else to search but the woods by her home, it's not exactly like bubba could go to many locations to do...what the note said he was trying to do, and the woods would've been the best place to keep himself from being found.

She continued to sniff the air, her sense of smell was better than most as a vampire, he couldn't have gotten THAT far, right? She was really panicked now, until she smelt a whiff of bubblegum, it had to be him.

It just had to be.

She practically tore her way through the woods, branches hitting her face and getting tangled in her hair. She had to pull herself free, cursing the fact that she kept her hair so long sometimes.

she never felt so cold.

She had bad memories of being a child, and living under weak shelters in thunderstorms, the worst were when Simon left. It left her mostly scared, and it was hard to sleep in a wet sleeping bag.

But even then, she usually had some kind of light source, from an old flashlight or lantern. Being able to see in the dark at least made her feel less uncomfortable, or at least allowed her to know if the sounds around her were from the rain or monsters.

She couldn't see two feet in front of her.

But bubba's scent was getting stronger, so he had to be close. Right? Even if she couldn't see him, smelling him would definitely lead her to his location, she felt less trees around her, reaching what was possible the end of the forest.

She followed the scent as fast as she could float, realizing she was heading up a hilltop.

She suddenly felt more uncomfortable.

But then she saw him, standing over top a cliff, looking down at it. He was wearing the shirt marceline has given him, he was soaked, head to toe, and he didn't even really seem to care about it in the slightest.

"Bubba!", she screamed, stopping a few feet in front of him.

He turned to look at her, terrified.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!", he screamed at her, setting marceline aback.

"God bubba...what are you doing?...", she looked at him, distressed.

He looked at her sadly, "Marceline...I-I don't want you to see me like this...please...go...", she didn't budge, however. "Bubba...no, don't...", the visions of her dream came back to her in horrible flashes, she had to stop this.

"There's no other choice..", he said, "You know this..."

"No...bubba, there's always a better choice, always...", she argued to him, thunder could be heard in the distance. Bubba jumped in place, he looked angry, "Like what marceline? What else can i do, knowing what i know? Being who i am...?"

"you can stay here...with me...", she said, "Start a new life, make new friends..."

"Marceline, it's not real...my home...everything i know...", he said softly, "What's the point...?"

"The point is that you ARE real bubba, and that you're my friend...", she argued, "You're a real person, with his own thoughts and feelings, you have a life ahead of you, and you can't waste it!"

"Marceline, no...i'm not real...", he argued, holding back tears, "My entire life has been in the control of others, my past never happened, all the terrible things that happened to me...people wanted them to happen to me..."

"Yes you are! You're standing right here, you've been living in my house, eating with me, hanging out with me. Of course you're real bubba, you're a real person, and you are here, with me...", she argued, "None of that matters anymore, your life is your hands now..."

He sobbed, "Marceline...my life is a lie, it's all a lie..."

"But bubba...i-if we can get you back...", she said, "It's me and Bonnie's plan...W-We're-"

"No marcy...", he said, "You don't get it, even if you could get me home, i'd know the truth...about my world, how could i ever go back to all that? Being fake...they could erase all my memories of you..."

She didn't know what to say, he wasn't wrong.

"Bubba...you know we wouldn't allow that...ever...", she said, "We'd allow you to come back, and you'd be-"

"Fine? How can i be fine with this...?"

"You're world, w-we could also make it real..."

"and tell my friends what? My world has always been nothing but fictional, horrible things happened to us because you all made them, we only feel the way we feel because of how we were written..", he said, "I'm a slave to my own world..."

"No bubba...those were real, those memories...they all really happened to you..."

"Everyone who i thought cared about me...they were only written to care about me..."

"I care about you, nothing has **_made_** me do so, I do care..."

He looked down, over the cliff, being very silent.

She felt tears coming on, "Bubba...this isn't the answer..."

"What other choice is there for me...i have nothing..."

He was going to jump, and she knew it, he was getting closer to the edge. she had to do something, she could probably fly fast enough to catch him if he jumped, but she'd rather convince him out of it.

"You have me...", she said, "You'll always have me..."

He stayed silent.

She sniffled, "Y-you're still wearing the shirt i gave you when we first met, what you wrote in that letter, i know it means something to you...", she came closer, step by step, "You care about me, and i care about you..."

He sniffled, "Not in the same way..."

"Yeah, in the same way..", she argued, "I-I only wanted to be friends...because i didn't want you to get hurt...". She was getting closer to him, maybe a few steps and she could yank him out of the way.

He looked at her, "Y-you...I...", she could see he was blushing.

"Bubba...I don't want you to do this...I'm here for you, I'm always gonna be here for you...", she argued, "You've done alot for me, and i know your sad and scared, but i'm never gonna leave your side..."

She held out her hand towards him.

"Please...let's just go back home..."

He looked at it, and at her.

She was crying, "bubba...please...I-I love you alright.."

He mumbled softly, "You...you..what?"

She held back tears, "I love you..."

He stopped crying, and walked towards her.

She felt his normally warm hand grasp hers, and pull them into a hug, he clinged to her like crazy. She felt him cry into her shoulder, she hugged him back, the rain was still pouring, making bubba even stickier.

"I'm sorry...i'm sorry...", he was mumbling into her shoulder, still holding her tightly.

They both sunk to the ground, still hugging, "Bubba...it's fine, just...don't ever scare me like that again...", she said, sighing in relief. She tried her hardest to comfort him, "Hey...It's fine...it's fine..."

She reached a hand under his legs and put one on his back, picking him up, "C'mon...let's get out of the rain...". The storm was still pretty bad, carrying him through the storm was indeed a struggle for her.

He placed his head on her shoulder as she carried him back to their cave, relieved to get out of the rain.

"I just wanted to end it marceline...", he mumbled softly.

"I know...", she said, she placed him down gently on the couch, unhappy it was so hard. Bubba and her were both soaked, and even a bit muddy, so much for the bathing they did earlier.

"I'll get you some food ok?", she wandered back into the kitchen and cooked up some leftover pizza, he took it and ate up. She was finally calming down from the even that just occurred, but couldn't help but look worried.

"Bubba...I didn't know...i mean i knew it was bad...but..."

"I'm sorry...", he looked at himself, "I...just..."

"I get it...", she said softly, "Look...you aren't a burden to me...and i like having you here, i don't mind being stuck with you forever...". He looked at her, blushing, and at a loss for words about what he was going to do.

"No marceline...before when I was knocked unconscious...I was trying to drink...", he said, making her remember the bottles that had been on the floor at the time she found him, she looked even paler.

"Oh...I should've known bubba...I-I'm sorry..."

"No...I'm sorry...I just feel...so awful..."

"At least you're ok...", she said, "It didn't happen...", she quickly tried to relax, "Bubs...I want you to understand that things are going to get better, I've understood being lonely and being sad, and it was rough for me...I didn't get to have a lot of people to help me...", she bit her lip, "I may of toughed through it, but that doesn't mean everyone can alone...". She sighed sadly, "You need my help..."

"I know...i-I..."

"You could've died today bubba...", she said.

He didn't answer, feeling guilty.

"You and bonnie are awesome, and i'm glad to have you both around in my life...", she said, reassuringly " I wouldn't trade either of you..." . She touched his shoulder, "And i kinda would like you both in one piece..."

He looked at her sadly, she sat down next to him, "I'm sorry for being a bad friend, I should've tried harder to help you...". He looked at her, almost as if to tell her that he was the one at fault.

"Tomorrow...we're gonna visit bonnie, and we're going to get you some help...", she said, "If you can't sleep, i'll stay up with you...If you're ok with that.", he sniffled, "Yeah...if you really want to...".

She smiled softly, "I'll get you some warm clothes, we outta change..."

"Ok..."

Both changed soon enough, bubba looked at the filthy shirt he wore beforehand, wet and muddy.

She took it from him, "We'll clean it off don't worry about it too much...", she said, piling up everything in her arms. She put it all in the laundry room, in a basket for later, she didn't want to leave bubba alone too long.

Bubba glanced at her return, "Is it really ok for me to stay here...? I know I've considered it before...but now...it feels wrong in a way...". He blushed, "I'm a mess...I've been a mess since i got here, getting upset...freaking out..."

"Bubs...you need help, and It's kinda my job to take care of you while you're here..", she said, biting her lip. she sighed before sitting down next to him, "You're my responsibility...and I'm gonna continue to take care of you..."

She picked him up, "C'mon, lets get you upstairs, that couch kinda sucks...heh...". He smiled a little, making her feel more comfortable, "Bubba...were you really gonna do it, back there?", she asked.

"I don't know...", he replied, "Maybe..."

She dropped him off gently, "I'm not gonna sleep, you need the rest more than I do...", she pulled the covers over him. He was still filthy, ruining her sheets, but that wasn't important right now.

"What?", He said, confused.

"I'm going to keep an eye on you...", she said, "It's fine...vampire's are kinda supposed to be night creatures anyway...", she sat on the nearest chair, the one near her desk. He looked worried, "You sure...?"

"Bubba, trust me...just sleep well ok?", she patted his head.

"Hey...marceline, did you mean that?", he asked quietly.

She looked at him in question, he was being very awkward all of a sudden.

"HHmm?"

"When you said you loved me...?", He said, blushing.

She tensed, before relaxing, and admitting to herself the truth.

She leaned to kiss his forehead, "Yeah...I did mean that...", she said, now blushing.

He smiled in slight amusement.

She made a pouted face, "Just get some sleep ok...dork..."

He pressed his head against the pillow, "Thanks...for stopping me...i'm sorry...I-"

"It's ok bubba...i'm just glad you're here...we're gonna help you ok..?"

"Sorry, I-I knew you wanted to help but...", she felt disappointed in himself, "I-I didn't listen..."

"Hey, it doesn't matter as long as you are still here...", she said, "Things are gonna look up...you'll see bubba...", she bit her lip, "I think you're one of the realest people I've met in a long time..."

He nodded, "Thank you..."

"And bubs...we're doing anything we can, I promise, as you're weird friend and caregiver...that we're gonna do what we can for you...", she made a meek smile, "You know i'd never let anything happen to ya..."

He nodded, "yeah...thank you marceline..."

She yawned, "Anytime, my prince..."

She pulled the covers over him, feeling like a mother, "Rest...i'll make you breakfast tomorrow and we can have some fun ok?", he turned on his side and closed his eyes, he did feel pretty tired.

"Never let me do that again...", he said softly.

"I promise...", she said, before taking a seat in the chair, she heard the storm outside, crashing against the walls of the cave. She calmed at the sight of bubba, who almost appeared to be smiling in his sleep.

She smiled herself, feeling much less panicked now.

"I promise...", she said.


	17. The Rescue

Bubba's morning was something, waking up to remember what happened the night before. it all felt so dream like that he was almost sure that it had never even happened. But here he was, still thinking about it.

Marceline was still where he last saw her, except she had clearly passed out.

It made him smile a little, she really did try to keep her promise to him, and now she way paying for it. He didn't want to even leave the bed, feeling more content under the covers, but he sat up.

Marceline moved, and that's when he realized that she had tied a rope around his leg and her arm, most likely to tell when he was leaving, and to wake her up in case she _did_ pass out just like this.

Well, at least she had a back up plan in case she fell asleep.

He tugged some more, marceline fell off her chair, face first.

 **AGGGHH**

She looked up to see bubba, "Oh...uh, you're awake...", she blushed, "Sorry bubs, I-I passed out last night...". She rubbed her face, "How are you feeling? Any better?", she gave him a concerned look.

"I'm fine...", he said, "I-I slept alright..."

She remembered last night, "Oh yeah...breakfast! I-I What would you like to eat? ", she asked, "I mean, we can have pancakes, o-or bacon? Or i have plenty of fruit if you'd like something like that?"

He smiled, "Don't worry bout it, let's just eat...", he honestly didn't really care, but perhaps food would help him feel better.

Well, he wanted to eat, that was certainly an improvement from last night.

She didn't feel too comfortable leaving him alone, however.

The bathroom crisis still made her shiver.

"Hey...uh..do you wanna help, cook i mean?", she asked him. He thought about it for a moment, "Ok...", she helped him stand up and they went down together. Normally bubba's reaction would've been him freaking out, but this was definitely an improvement.

She helped him put on his apron, and that seemed to cheer him up slightly. She even got her own apron to match his, even though she thought it looked ridiculous, but it also seemed to make him feel better.

"Let's make pancakes and fruit, sound good?", she asked, he gave her a slight nod in response.

She got out the ingredients, and he got some what they required, she gave him a meek smile as she attempted to start baking. Bubba looked at her, and she felt him take her hands and show her what she was supposed to do.

"Heh...sorry...", she said, "Still not too good at his kinda stuff..."

He smiled weakly, "Don't worry you'll always have me to help you out...", he helped measure the ingredients and put them in the bowl, "Here...", he gave her a whisk, "Here...mix it up real good, "I'll flip them up ok?"

 _Finally, that's the bubba she knew..._

"Alright, sounds good gumbutt...", she said, "Let's make sure it tastes good ok?", He grinned at her. Soon enough, they had a whole plate of food to eat up, she ate rather quickly, and he ate up rather slowly.

But at least he was eating.

They ate till they were full, too stuffed to do anything else.

Marceline bit her lip, "Do you wanna visit bon today? W-we could all hang out and have fun and stuff...", she didn't feel comfortable doing anything he wasn't ok with, especially since he was still in recovery.

But he shrugged, "I-It's fine...w-we can visit...", he didn't seem as if he was opposed to it.

"You gonna be ok? W-We don't have to go if you don't really wann-", she started but he stopped her, "It's perfectly fine marceline...w-I should go out and get some fresh air, and hang out with friends..."

"Ok...", she said, resting a hand on his shoulder, "Just let me know if you ever need anything ok?"

"Yeah...yeah of course...", He assured her, "I promise to let you know...", he shuffled his feet, "I'm going to change and take a bath...I'll see you shortly.", he gave her a look of calmness and made his way upstairs.

She sighed, what was she in for today?

Bonnibel seemed to be passed out at her lab when they arrived, making small snoring noises, chemicals were spilt all over the table. Marceline gabbed the princesses shoulders and shook her awake. She panicked, freaking out until she saw her friends, and gumball.

"Oh...um...", she bit her lip, "S-sorry bout that marcy...", she noticed the mess.

"It's fine, I brought bubba, w-we came to visit, and hang...", bubba nodded, looking around her lab in curiosity.

"Oh...uh, wonderful, i-I've gotta clean up though...", she stood up, "Let's leave the lab, i need to change into something better than this...". They shrugged and followed her out, she went down the hallway, letting a familiar butler know about her lab.

"I need to change, be right back..", she went into her room, bubba looked at the door, memories flooding.

Marceline set her hand on his shoulder, giving him a comforting smile.

Pb came out shortly later, wearing clean clothing, much more casual.

She smiled at gumball, "How are you feeling?", he nodded at her, "Yeah...i'm good...". Marceline took his shoulder and the three walked along the hallway again, Bubblegum looked at bubba, "So, what would you like to know?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, since marceline told you of our theory, is there any questions you have?"

Marceline gave her a dirty look, but bubba brushed it off, "I don't know...a-are you close?". She looked confused for a second, "To finding out how they did it? No, however...I think a wizard is responsible, it's juts a theory of course..."

"You do?", marceline now popped in, " Since when?"

"Since last night, I was thinking, bubba's existence must come from a science i don''t yet understand, so naturally...we need to go to wizard city and figure out if a wizard is responsible for this...", she explained.

"Bon, they aren't exactly a big fan of you, y'know?", marceline said, "They...kinda put you in jail?"

"Well, I've gotten better, so I figure maybe this time i'll have better luck..."

"Wait, do you plan on sneaking in again?", marceline asked her, "Gee bon, I thought you were good natured...". Bubblegum stuck her tongue out, "You know first hand i'm not like that, besides...i'd rather the grand master didn't know I was there..."

"Because of last time?"

"Shut up.."

Gumball looked at her, "Why'd you get arrested?". She looked rather flustered, "W-well, i don't believe in magic and i told it to their faces that it was only science...", she played with her gummy hair, "Not my best moment i know..."

"You don't believe in magic?", gumball said, "Back home, I own a magic oven..."

Now Bonnie looked confused, gee, if Simon made him as a version of her, he really didn't know her very well at all. He wasn't that into science, he believed in magic, she couldn't help but feel a little insulted.

Marceline giggled, "Awww, c'mon bon, relax...so when you planning on sneaking in?"

"Well, now actually...", she said, making both of them jump.

Marceline looked a bit peeved, "But i kinda thought today we'd get bubba's mind off all this stuff...", she whispered. Bonnie shrugged, "Well, i know, but the sooner we get this done the better, and i need backup..."

Marceline raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"I'm sorry marceline, but I need my partner in order to scope all this, and help in case i get in trouble again.", she explained.

"Couldn't you get finn and jake to do this kinda thing?", she asked in irritation.

"Well, you know what happened last time...besides, you're my partner for this thing...", she said, "C'mon, don't chicken out, I need you, we're totally gonna find this dude and help bubba out ok?"

"I'm not sure that's what he wants..."

"I'm still here guys...", bubba said, "you can discuss this kinda stuff with me y'know?"

They both blushed, "Right, sorry about that bubba..."

"Look, I-It's ok...if you guys wanna go do this...i'ts fine...", he said awkwardly, "As long as it makes you both happy..."

"You can come too..." marceline offered, "We're not gonna leave you out of this anymore, you are officially part of our team...", she patted him on the shoulder. He gave her a meek smile, "I don't know..."

Bonnie gave marceline a look, "B-"

"But nothing bon, if you're gonna make me do this...i'm taking bubba...", she said, "He deserves to be apart of all this, and he deserves to know why he's even here in the first place..."

She pouted, "Alright alright...but if he gets hurt, it's on you..."

"I know..."

Bonnie nodded, "Ok, you will both need disguises, we don't want to attract any attention..."

"Hurry up you two!", the pink princess called out, wearing a dark robe and a mask, "We can't waste time here..."

The prince and vampire queen showed up, wearing their own disguises, marceline shape shifted into a small monster, wearing a cape and pointed hat. And bubba wore a fake beard and was carrying many props on him.

"Can it bon, we need to look convincing...", marceline grunted.

"Sure, but we can't waste any time, what if the guy we're looking for is inside already?", she conplanied, "We need to get inside and see if we can find the person with this handwriting, or who knows about bubba..."

"Well, that's easy enough, why don't we just show bubba off and see who recognizes him?", marceline joked.

"Because we don't know their intentions...", she said, "What if they're crazy evil?"

"Then i'll kick their butts...", marceline said, "They ain't touching him on my watch...", she rubbed her hands together, "Don't worry peebo, bubba is gonna be fine, i'm not gonna let him outta my sight.."

"Ok good, because wizards are crazy weird, they might kidnap him or something..."

bubba gulped, "W-why would they d-do something like that?"

"Well duh, you aren't supposed to exist...you're kinda an amazing discovery...", bonnie explained, before taking out a box. "I still have the recording from the last time i was here, we can use ik's voice to get inside..."

The tape played, the audio making bubba marceline and bubba give her weird looks.

But when the password was mentioned, the door opened.

Wizard city was grand, and full of chaos as the trio entered.

Bubba couldn't remember if he'd ever been in this city before, but whether he did or not, this sight made him excited and nervous at the same time. Even marceline looked a bit nervous, but maybe that was because they were surrounded by dangerous magical beings.

"So...where do we start?", she asked her princess friend.

PB scoped the scene, "Ask around i suppose, about wizards about spells that could produce well...bubba..."

"They're gonna get suspicious bon...", marceline said, making the princess angry.

"Well, what do **_you_** think we should do?" She said, arms crossed, "C'mon... let's investigate..."

She spread out to talk to some wizards in the front of a shop, leaving her friends behind, marceline shrugged and made her way to another group. Bubba tagged along, feeling rather uncomfortable and regretting his choice to help.

The group looked at them in question, even after marceline asked about spells that brought book characters to life.

"Shouldn't you know that spell?"

"Why are you asking me? My spells only involve melons..."

"Look it up.."

"Are you new here?"

This was clearly not working out, she was worried that the gourds would arrest her if she wasn't careful. She kept bubba especially close, keeping any wandering eyes from noticing his fake beard and stuff.

She took him by the hand and ushered him away, "We better go find bonnibel...", she mumbled.

He nodded, making no hesitation to leave this place.

Bonnibel, unfortunately, was found in the center or a crowd. Making marceline anxious, "Not again...", she dragged bubba over to the crowd to get her friend, who was clearly in a bad mood within the crowd.

"Look, explain how you would be able to bring a fictional character to life, that's all i'd like to know..", she said, angry.

"and why do you want to know something like that?" one wizard shouted.

"because I want to know how it works.", she said, "That's all..."

"It's magic!"

"Yeah but..."

Marceline grabbed her arm, "Get over here...", she dragged her out of the crowd, "Are you trying to get us caught or what?". Marceline looked rather angry, like she'd almost hit something.

Bonnie pouted, "They won't corporate marceline..."

"Yeah, well neither will the guards when they arrest us for being non-magic..." , she grunted, "C'mon...we better get outta here, everyone is staring at us..."

"But we can't leave, we have to get the information we need before we can leave..", she argued, "We'll never be able to finish this without finding the wizard responsible...". Marceline let go of her arm, "Bonnie, we don't even know if this _**is**_ a wizard, and we could've done this kinda thing **_any_** time...", she was almost yelling. The princess was startled, "Marceline, don't you want to help bubba?"

"Of course i do, but if we get in trouble, then we won't be able to help him!"

Bubba watched his friends argue, making him more nervous.

He didn't notice when somebody snuck up behind him.

He felt a hand come over his mouth and him being carried away. Marceline and pb were still arguing, he struggled, trying to scream to her. Till he was able to release his mouth from the individual's hands.

"MARCELINE!"

Marceline's ears perked up, she turned around from her arguing to see her friend being gagged and snuck into an alleyway. Bonnie looked irritated that marceline was ignoring her till she noticed just what she was looking at.

"Bubba..."she said, before racing after him with no hesitation.

She went into the alley way, angered and ready to kill, but bubba was gone.

It was only an empty alleyway.

She fell to her knees, bonnie caught up with her.

"H-he's gone...", she said, "T-they took him..."

She hissed in anger, "I-i'm gonna kill them..."

Bonnie looked around, "No marceline, they went in here, there has to be an entrance..."

She began to examine the walls, whilst marceline sniffed the air, trying to see if she could smell him. It was faint, and it didn't help her feel any better, she should've kept her eye on him and now he was kidnapped by who knows what.

They could kill him, or worse...

She continued to sniff the air, walking towards the wall.

She felt it grow stronger in one particular spot, she growled before punching through the wall and transforming back to her normal form.

Pb freaked out, "MARCELINE! Now who's attracting too much attention?". But she didn't answer, a door was behind the wall, stairs leading to somewhere. Without a word to her friend she went down them, bonnie followed after.

"Marceline, you don't know what's down there...", she said, "It could be a trap..."

"I don't care...", she growled, "I'm not leaving without him..."

Bonnie looked concerned, "Marceline...please...let's get some help, finn and jake, they'll help us get him back..."

But marceline kept going, not even looking at her friend, or answering.

Bonnie walked in front of her, "You don't actually plan on killing any of them right?". Marceline's eyes seemed to be glowing red with anger, she hadn't seen her this anger in a very long period of time.

Marceline pushed her out of the way, sniffing the air for her friend.

Bonnie stopped, "I'm going to get back up ok? D-don't do anything brash..."

Marceline turned invisible, hiding herself in the shadows.

Bubba couldn't see anything, he couldn't speak, and he couldn't move.

He felt himself on a cold stone floor, and heard footsteps, multiple footsteps, walking around.

If he were back home he would've assumed this were the work of the ice queen, once again trying to force him into marriage. But she didn't exist in this plain, so someone else seemed to take an interest to him.

He never wanted so desperately to be in IQ's prison.

Voices were heard, none he recognized, but they were talking amoungst themselves quietly.

"What are we planing on doing with him?', one asked.

"Nothing yet, but we'll draw them out, don't worry..." another voice, a deeper one

"But the princess and vampire queen are much too powerful, they'll take us out..."

"No they can't, if they attack here, the grand wizard will have them severely punished...and besides..."

Bubba felt someone kick him.

"They wouldn't want to risk their friend's life..."

His hands were tied tightly together, he struggled, trying his hardest to break free.

They didn't seem to be after him, but rather his friends, not that that was any better in any way.

He could hear noises, not footsteps however, but something crawling.

Did he even want to know what was going on around him? This place could be full of monsters, maybe they would end up feeding him to some sort of demon, he never felt so panicked in his life.

Usually fionna and cake would come for him, and save him, but they couldn't...

They didn't exist in this world, either he had to find his own way out, or had to wait for marceline to come and get him. There was no telling how long he'd even been down here, he wondered if he'd been passed out.

His struggling caught the attention of someone, he felt himself be zapped in the back.

"Don't move..."

He obeyed, he felt so much pain in his back, it stung terribly.

Then he felt someone touch his forehead soothingly, a crash was heard in another room, and footsteps rushed away. They were screaming, more in anger than in fear, but they sounded as if they were far enough for him to escape.

But he felt someone remove his blindfold.

 _It was marceline..._

She continued to feel his forehead, clearly concerned.

"They didn't see me don't worry...i was hidden...", she whispered, "I'm getting you outta here ok? But i have to get rid of these guys first...i'll be ok, don't worry.". She slipped something sharp into his hands.

"If something happens to me, i want you to free yourself and run, ok?", she told him.

He would've protested if he still wasn't wearing the gag, but he nodded.

She disappeared , of to take care of the kidnappers, but not before putting his blindfold back on.

The wizards were angered at the mess, all their experiments, freed and causing chaos. They desperately tried to get rid of them as quickly as possible before they cause any more damage to their hideout.

One wizard felt something touch his back, assuming it was an escaped experiment, he tried to zap it , but hit himself on the back instead. He winced, and went into the hallway to go find something to ease the pain when someone grabbed him.

An invisible hand covered his mouth, and he vanished into the dark.

 _One down...  
_  
The three wizards remaining finished cleaning the mess, not noticing one had disappeared.

"How did this happen?", the tallest asked, "Did one of you forget to lock them in again?"

"No...we couldn't have, we were all present in the other room right?", the shortest asked.

The tall one looked around, "Unless...someone else...is here..."

The armed themselves, scoping the room for any signs of intruders. Marceline was hidden in a corner, they knew she was here, now getting rid of them was going to become much trickier.

"Where is tylin?", the short one asked, "He isn't with us..."

They murmured between themselves, not sure whether he just left, or was eaten. Marceline tensed, wondering just how she was going to get rid of them all, maybe bonnie would show up soon to help?

"Mack...go watch the prisoner...", the tallest one ordered, making marceline think that he might be the leader. Therefore, he had to go the most out of all of them, she had to cut off the head of the snake.

He rushed out, running towards the room bubba was. She watched him leave, praying to glob bubba wasnt going to be harmed during this.

She looked at the two wizards in front of her, they were examining the room around them, looking for anything that seemed out of place. Marceline tried not to make a sound, they wouldn't be able to kill her, not without the sun or stakes, but she could definitely be harmed by them.

She took a moment, and decided to take out the wizard guarding bubba first.

She'd never be able to take two out at once, not without revealing herself.

She quietly made her way to bubba, the wizard, named mack, stood in front of him. He observed the surroundings and kept himself armed, ready for any surprises that may occur. He clearly wasn't playing around.

Bubba made no sounds, not wanting any attention to come to him.

Which is why the wizard didn't notice him carefully trying to cut himself free.

And why he didn't notice bubba wiggle around enough to use his legs to trip the wizard over, making him fall on the ground, face first.

He swore, and tried to zap bubba until he felt his mouth being closed and his whole body become wrapped up in many many tentacles. He tried to scream but he was pulled out of the room and out of the way.

 _2 down...  
_  
The final two seemed to be practically glued to each other, neither feeling comfortable at separation. Especially since someone seemed to be kidnapping them all, one by one. They had to stick together out of safety.

Separating them would be a challenge.

"HEY, WE GOT THE PLACE SURROUNDED!", came a familiar voice.

or at least it would've been a challenge if it weren't for that familiar voice.

Bonnie..

She burst into the room, armed, with finn and jake at her side. The wizards were caught off guard, and didn't react fast enough when they attacked them, knocking them to the ground in surprise.

With them being a distraction, she ran back to bubba, who was cutting himself free.

She removed his gag and blindfold, and helped him get to is feet.

"I heard bonnibel...they came for us...", he said, grinning, "Thank goodness..."

"I could've gotten you out by myself..." , she pouted, causing him to reach up and ruffle her hair.

"I know..."

Then they heard screams, bonnie was thrown into the room, trapped in some kind of substance. The leader wizard walked forward towards the royals, " I was only hoping you two would come here for your friend and turn yourself in but...i guess catching you like prey works too..."

Marceline was growling, "You're sick..."

"You shouldn't have been in our city..."

Bubba tried to hold her back, "Calm down...", but she shook him off.

"We're leaving, me, him, bonnie, and the boys...", she growled, "And if you do anything...I'll make sure you never leave this little base ever again...". Her were glowing red with anger, giving him a threatening glare.

The wizard laughed, "Cute...but if you do anything to me...you'll never get into this city again..."

Bonnie was struggling to get out, pushing at the walls of the substance, but it didn't move. She was starting to panic, finn and jake were still fighting the one remaining wizard, and she wasn't going to be able to keep marcy for killing this one.

"MOVE!", the vampire queen growled, "Or i'll rip that grin off your face..."

He didn't move, "Tsk tsk...you better watch that anger of yours around your friends...". He kicked bonnie on the floor, "Those two boys will be in the same boat in not too long and you don't know magic enough to get them out..."

She walked towards him, "What will it take to make you back down?"

"You can surrender...", he said.

"Why do you want me and bonnie so bad...?", she asked, "We aren't exactly easy to catch or worth death..."

"It's because you two think you can enter our city and mess with our ways, You two will pay for your ignorance and learn to respect our ways...", he said, marceline took a step back from him.

"Well, _I_ didn't do _anything_...", she denied, "I didn't complain about your magic, because i don't really care about it...". She growled, "Bonnie may not believe in it , but that doesn't mean you have to try and kidnap my friend, and try to catch us.."

"Well, we can earn payment for turning you in to the grand wizard...", he said, " We could use that money to pay for all the damage you caused to our home..."

"And what about bubba...?", she said, standing in front of him protectively.

"He would've been turned in too...", he said simply, "I'm not exactly quite sure who he is though, has he any relation to the candy princess?". He eyed bubba uncomfortably, " A candy _prince_ perhaps...?"

Marceline looked at her friend before shaking her head, "No...they aren't related...he's just a friend...nothing else.."

"Mmm, a close one i assume? Considering you came after him before the princess did?"

She blushed, "Stop stalling, move...or i'll take you out..."

Finn and jake could be heard in the other room with the other wizard, they seemed to be trying to burst down the door, and the door seemed to be locked magically. The other wizard could even be heard calling for his boss to get him away from these crazy heroes.

"Oh yes...", he recalled, "You also rid me of my partners, so i suppose me just turning you in won't do..."

"Then lets make a trade, you get your friends back...we all leave, and never come back?", marceline said.

"And what makes you think i'd let you go like that?"

"Well, you won't be able to find them otherwise...", she said,"we just want to go home...that's it..."

His eyes narrowed, he didn't look convinced. But marceline stood her ground, "Look, you want your people, i want mine...we make a trade, you guys are ok, and we won't ever come back here and bother you..."

"Are they alive?", He asked, "I'll consider the trade if I know they're fine..."

"They are...promise..."

Marceline looked down at bonnie, "A-and...she'll pay you, for our bounty..."

PB tried to yell at marceline, but she couldn't hear her.

"Pay us? Hmmm, now we're on the same page...", he said.

"So..so you'll do it...?" Bubba asked meekly.

"Show me my team first...I let you're friends go...and you pay..."

Marceline nodded.

"And if you are lying...", he eyes bubba, "He will be next..."

Marceline grabbed bubba's wrist, "Look just follow me and no one gets hurt..."

She lead them into a hallway, where two unconscious bodies were tied together. The leader walked towards them, "Mmmm, at least they are alive...you knocked them unconscious?", he asked.

She growled, "You guys kidnapped bubba, knocked him out, and zapped him...and locked my friends up...we're even.."

He didn't look pleased, "Very well..."

"Now...my friends...", she said, "If you try to attack, i kill them..."

"Mmmmm, knowing your record I guess you are being quite serious...", he smirked, "Quite the killer are you? Killing your own kind...harming many...I'm sure a few more lives at your hands are nothing to you..."

"Shut up...", she said, "I did what was right..."

The leader, carefully removed the spell from bonnie and from the door, freeing her friends and the remaining wizard partner. Marceline stopped them all from trying to attack, saying the best thing they should do for now is leave.

And that they'd meet them in a second.

"Ok...now...pay us...", the leader said, "We don't like being kept waiting..."

Marceline turned red, "Bonnie will have to pay you when we get back..."

"WHAT?!"

Marceline grabbed bubba, "C'mon...", she tried to fly away when she saw some flashes of light behind her.

And heard bubba scream in pain.

She looked behind her to see that he was bleeding, on his leg and back, she picked him up bridal style and flew for it. The city of wizards looked at her as she ran, with the gang right behind her.

Her friends hopefully made it out right?

She pushed her way through the crowd and escaped through the city gates, she must have lost them, because they didn't follow her through. Jake, Finn, and Bonnie were out there waiting for her. They all looked scared and out of breath, and at the sight of bubba bleeding, they rushed to help.

"They hit him...", the vampire queen said, trying not to freak out.

"We'll get him to the kingdom and give him medical attention...don't worry...", bonnie said, touching her shoulder, "C'mon, we better get a move on..."

She picked him up and followed her friends to the candy kingdom, at the sight of the bleeding man, the candy people immediately helped get him to the medical wing. Leaving all his friends in the waiting room.

"Great...great job marceline...", she said, holding her head, "You save him from dying then cause him to almost die the very next day..."

Jake and Finn both desperately tried to calm her down but she wasn't having it. Shoving the two of them away from her angrily, gee, why did she let any of this happen, if she'd just been paying attention to bubba...

She waited for what felt like an hour till bonnie popped up again.

She comforting marceline with a warm smile, "He's fine...don't worry..."

Marceline stood up, "Is he angry with me? H-it's kinda my fault..."

"No...he's fine, nothing too vital, just a broken leg is all...", she grinned, "We can gather some gum and fix it up very quickly, but he'll need some time to get used to it after we finish..."

Marceline felt slightly better, but only slightly.

"Can I see him...?"

"Yeah, he's in the room on the right, you can talk to him a bit before we fix up his leg, ok?", she said, "You saved him, don't worry, this is nothing compared to what could've happen in a city like that..."

"I know, i just-"

"Go see him already...", she laughed, "I'll speak to you very soon ok?"

"Ok...", then the princess left for her lab, leaving marceline to enter through the doors and into her friend's room. He looked rather comfortable, despite having his leg propped up and his back bandaged.

He smiled warmly at her.

"Marceline! Ahh, it's good to see you again, sit down...", he said, patting a chair next to him. She took her seat, he didn't seem to be upset at all, in fact, she hadn't seen him so happy in awhile.

"Bubba...how are you...?", she asked.

"I'm alright, my leg and back hurt...but i'm alright..", he laughed a little, "I'm kinda just glad to be alive after that scary experience..."

She laughed slightly too, "Y-yeah, i guess...i'm sorry about your leg.."

"It's fine marceline, i've had limbs fixed before back home, it shouldn't be too different here...right?", he asked.

She grinned, "You'll be fine, bonnie's good with this kind of stuff..."

"Oh good...I feel better knowing that...", he said, "How are you?".

He asked this so causally, like there was nothing going on at all, she didn't even know what to say first to him. She playfully pet his hair, "Hey...i'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen to you..."

"It's not your fault marceline...if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here now...", she said, "Don't blame yourself..."

"You're hurt bubs...", she complained.

"And it's fine, i'm going to be fine...you saved me, finn, jake, and bonnie...", he said, "You're my hero..."

She blushed, "Well, i guess..."

He grinned, and took her hand, "Don't worry...ok? I'm not angry with you...you did your best...". He squeezed her hand, trying to calm her down, "You were amazing back there, the way you stood your ground..."

She pouted, "Look, those guys i killed, i was just trying to save people..."

"I know...i believe you...", he said, "It's fine..."

She leaned down and hugged him gently, "I was worried about you...geez dude, if you flipping get kidnapped like that again...", she laughed. He laughed along with her, "Heh...it happened all the time back home..."

Bonnie opened the door slightly, watching the two of them.

She smiled.


	18. The Hunt Is On

"Mmmmm, how do you feel...?", marceline said, holding her friend up as he tried to walk with his new fixed leg.

"It's a little weird, but i know over time i'll be fine...it's just gum..", he said, "Be thankful i'm made of something replaceable...if this were finn then it'd take much longer for him to use his leg again..."

Marceline wanted to mention finn and his weird plant arm, but dropped it.

He was doing pretty well, the leg was only fixed a few days ago, and after some physical therapy with it and Bonnie checking making sure it was together properly, it was finally ready to start being used for actual walking.

But with help of course.

"Don't worry bubba, I've replaced plenty of my limbs before, even had my whole body cut into pieces...", Bonnie had said, "If I can survive that, you are going to be perfectly fine...don't even worry about it..."

This do not help him feel any better.

But nonetheless, he seemed to be doing fine so far, without much issue.

Marceline had an arm around his shoulder, just in case he might have lost his balance. He tumbled only a few times, it didn't feel too different from how his leg normally felt, just more numb.

Bonnie was in an office room, more than likely trying to send a letter to the grand wizard about the encounter days ago. Whether they got along or not, she needed to bring this up with him.

She felt bad, it was partially her fault for this issue, for wanting to investigate.

It was better she resolve it before anything else bad happened.

Writing a polite letter was a start, if she could at least get them on good terms again and bring up the issue they could keep this from ever happening again. She had her security even higher today, just to be safe.

They did know who they were, and where they lived.

She wouldn't have been surprised if they attacked any second now, or were listening to every single word they spoke. They could even have been in the room right now, and she might have never noticed.

Marceline blamed herself for this mess, but Bonnie assured her it was her fault and that she would get it resolved before any kind of war broke out.

She finished sighing her name, she sighed, everything felt like it was getting worse rather than better. Between bubbas issues, and her own, she almost wondered if risking the search for bubba's home was even worth it anymore.

But it would be the discovery of a lifetime if she knew, science that could fix so many issues and benefit her and her fellow kingdoms.

She could feel herself debating all this constantly, she didn't know what to do, she felt lost.

Bubba seemed to be ok living in this world, but what if she could accesses the world he came from?

Marceline enjoyed having his company, but what if this spell caused him to vanish or something?

He was an amazing achievement, but what if they never understood why he was here?

So many questions, and for a scientist this was expected.

But this was becoming too much, even for her, too much was unexplained, and there was so much to find. She couldn't help but knock notes off her desk in anger, she was getting nowhere, and lives were now at risk.

She needed something, anything!

There had to be something she was missing here, something she hadn't seen. Finn and Jake had went to the library and dug up plenty of books for her too read, and wizards who were known had been crossed off because their magic couldn't cause this.

She would've accused the life giving magi if she hadn't already known that the last time Ik tried to use his power to bring his characters to life, it brought the book life instead.

So she had to rule him out.

There wasn't any wizards that had to do with books, right?

She put the letter in an envelope and sent it off by bird.

She yawned, tired and bored she left the room, maybe deciding to go check up on her friends. Finn and Jake were both home, relaxing from the whole accident, they were probably gonna be of duty for awhile.

Marceline had stayed the last few days, most likely not wanting bubba to be isolated after dealing with such an incident.

Bonnie couldn't blame her, if those maniacs had manged to sneak inside the kingdom, she would probably be able to keep them away from bubba. Marceline even brought her axe from home, keeping it on her at all times.

PB found her friends, they were in the courtyard now. Marceline wore a new sunhat, she was letting bubba try out his new foot himself, but was ready to catch him if he fell. But he seemed to be doing just fine this time, thank goodness.

PB watched them from a distance, smiling, at least they seemed happy.

They goofed off before sitting on the nearest bench, bonnie joined them quietly, and they both gave her a small wave. she gave them a hug, "Hey...finished the letter...we'll see how soon it gets back..."

"Well, as long as those morons don't show up anytime soon i'm happy...", marceline said, "Last thing i need is to see them again...". Bubba nodded, "Heh...at least they didn't damage me too bad..."

"Leg doing alright?", bonnie asked, "I know it feels kinda weird, but you'll get used to it..."

"how come it took you a few days to do it?", marceline asked, " It usually takes a few hours..."

She blushed, "I-It took me awhile to find enough gum to fix the damage...and in the end, i had to uh...kinda use my hair...", she said, "I know, weird, but he's made of the same type of gum so it was the best i could use..."

Bubba nodded, "It's fine, as long as i'm alive..."

"Yeah...gotta agree to that...", Marceline joked, she then poked bonnie. "You did a great job...he's walking pretty well, if only all things could be fixed this easily...", she ruffled the princess's hair, "Thanks bon bon.."

"Anytime, now we just gotta wait for the grand master wizard's response...and we'll plan out what we're gonna do next from there, but hopefully he can sort this matter out before anyone else gets hurt...", she said, laughing in an awkward manner.

Marceline gave her a look, "And if he doesn't? How much do we stand a chance against an army of wizards?". She could probably take a few herself, but bonnie's guards weren't exactly perfect, and those gumball guardians were pretty overwhelmed when Gunther attacked.

She felt the worry eat her up inside.

Bonnie tried to reassure her, "You'll be fine, we'll all be fine...you know me...i can handle it..."

Neither gumball nor marceline seemed to believe her, giving her skeptical looks.

She stood up, "Well, you guys can both live here for a bit till we have this matter all sorted out ok?", she brushed off her clothes. "I'll arrange to pick up your stuff from home and hopefully things will go well..."

Marceline made a face, _Yeah..._ _ **hopefully**_ _..._

They could've chosen to have separate rooms, but marceline didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone, deciding to share the same room with him again.

Pb didn't question it, whatever made them comfortable, belongings were dropped off and so was schwabl, who ran into marceline arms. She held him tight, smooching his face, and petting his soft head.

While they got settled the princess paced in her lab, waiting for the letter, she went through almost 5 cups of tea by the time the response came back. She rushing to the window and grabbed the letter, opening it up.

Skimming through the letter she let out a deep breath.

Peppermint butler walked in, "Princess...I-"

"He responded, he wants to meet with me...", she said softly, "Soon..."

"Oh...should i tell your friends to come too?", he said.

"No...he only wants to speak with me, just me...you can let them know, but them can't come with...", she sighed, "Don't worry about me peps, i'll be fine...this is my fault after all...I better fix it.."

"Princess, don't worry, I have complete faith in you...", he said, handing her another tray of tea.

She took it, "Thank you...i'm glad someone does around here..."

When peppermint butler looked at her in confusion, she sighed, "I know marceline and bubba are scared...and i can't really blame them, I mean, marceline also caused some issues...but I convinced them to go..."

"Don't blame yourself princess...", he said, "It could've gone much worse..."

"I suppose so...I mean, I was even trapped in a magic trap...at least we all made it out...", she stretched out, "So let them know...I suppose I better get ready, I don't wanna look unprofessional..."

"Good princess...", he took her teacup, "If you need anything, i am here..."

"Just keep an eye on marce and bubs ok? If they need anything, help them out...", she told him gently, "And make sure to keep an eye out for any trouble, I Want this place in one piece when I get back..."

She left the room silently, leaving peps to finish cleaning.

Marceline sat on the bed, bubba lying down next to her, ready to take a nap.

Marceline reluctantly stood up when they heard a knock on the door, she opened it, seeing the familiar butler standing outside. She gave him a look, irritated, she blew starnds of hair out of her face.

"Hey pep but...what's up?", she crossed her arms, "Bonnie need a new test subject? Cause i'm good..."

"No..no, the princess received her letter back, she's going to meet with grand wizard on her own to fix everything...", he explained, "She wants to let you both know of her current absence..."

"What? By herself?!", she said, outraged, "She trying to get herself killed?!"

"The grand master requested it him-"

"I don't care what that pile of hair asked, going by herself into a place full of crazy magic wielding nut balls could get her in deep trouble..."

She bit her lip, thinking of bonnie in the past, "Well, more trouble than before at least...but still, why not go with us, i mean, shouldn't she have us? Like as witnesses or something? We are just as big a part of this as she is..."

"I know, i know...but she doesn't want anymore trouble...", he said calmly.

"Well, she's gonna get in more trouble like that!", marceline growled, startling him a bit.

"Please, she can take care of herself _**fine**_ , just wait till she gets back...she knows what she's doing...", he told her, "Be more concerned for the prince right now, You don't plan on dragging him back into wizard city do you?"

She growled.

"If she needs help, I will know...she's handled stuff like this before, have faith in her for now ok?", he said, "I'll be in my chambers if you need me, don't do anything...weird.", he eyed bubba.

"We're fine...", she said, still angry.

She slammed the door on him, and then laid down on the bed next to her friend, who looked at her in question. He made room for her and got comfortable, "I'm guessing something went wrong?"

"Yeah...something along those lines, bonnie decided to go off and talk it up with the grand master...", she said, making small noises of irritation, "She doesn't want us to come...apparently..."

He was silent, smile fading.

"I know...and...I wanna help...but...I mean, we could make it worse...", she said, she looked at his previously injured leg. "I'd kinda rather we didn't die this time...", she tried to calm herself down, "But you know how she gets in there...she'll get in trouble again..."

"Well, maybe she can handle this herself...", he said, "She must be confident if she's this willing to go alone..."

"Yeah...but...", she said, "Ugh, i wanna go after her but..."

"She's your best friend...", he said, "Just do what you think is best..."

"Well, you're also my best friend...and I don't want to leave you outta my sight either...", she said, "I don't know dude...i guess i'm just so worried...if bonnie freaking dies i swear..."

Bubba stayed silent, making himself comfortable on the bed.

She felt conflicted, she sat up and kissed his forehead. "I'll stay, I'll probably just make it worse going anyway, and i can't even get in without the password...", she laid down, defeated.

"But if she doesn't come back...i'm gonna kill her myself...", she said.

Bubba laughed, " If she's anything like me, she'll be fine, it's not the first time right?"

"Right.."

"And can she handle herself ok?"

"Yeah..."

"Then don't worry, not now at least, if anything, they're more likely to target you and me after we injured them and lied to them...", he said, and he wasn't wrong. The most bonnie had done was sneak them in and try to rescue them.

"Ok...i'll try...", she said, "How are you feeling bubba? Overall i mean, not just the leg...".

He rolled on his side, "I'm not as sad...i guess, at least...not as sad as i was...", he forced out a laugh, "I guess that's a good sign..."

"Yeah, that does make me feel a little bit better...", she said casually, "I'm sorry we didn't find out anything there, at least not anything useful...". It was a wasted trip, caused only issues and got them no closer to what they wanted to know.

"It's fine, maybe there wasn't anything to find at all...", he said, "Maybe there's more to this..."

"Maybe bonnie will find out while she's there...", marceline muttered, "maybe she can solve this by herself..."

He mumbled, drifting off to sleep.

"Yeah...maybe.."

She mumbled to herself, "Or maybe not..."

Pb didn't exactly expect to be welcomed to the city, and she was right, considering the angry wizards surrounding her as she made her way to her location.

She could hear then booing and feel their hatred.

Maybe they didn't know what was going on, or maybe they were still angry over last time.

But she felt very uncomfortable walking past them, she was pretty surprised they didn't all attack her, although the grand wizard was probably the one who was keeping them from doing so.

She entered his room to become face to face with him.

He was huge, with long white hair , a robe, and gem eyes.

She wasn't exactly sure what to say first, or really what she should say at all, if she said something wrong, she might never leave.

Especially since the grand master wasn't exactly much of a listener, playing with his cats, and completely blind to what she thought about magic. Was he even going to care about the incident this time?

"So, uh...you requested to see me?", she said, "I'm sorry about our last encounter, but i want us to both talk about this not as enemies, but as leaders on equal terms.". She shuffled her feet, "We were under attack..."

He spoke, booming voice, "Why were you in my city?!"

"Look, we have this ...friend, he's not from around here, and we had a theory that one of your kind was responsible for him being here. You weren't going to let us in, so we had to investigate our way..."

He scratched his chin, "Tell me about this friend..."

"You want to know about him?", she said, shocked.

"Your telling me you have a friend that was created by magic, aren't you?", he said, making pb nod. She stood up straight, and calmed down, "Yes...At least that's what we think, me and marceline are kinda investig-"

He raised a hand to stop her.

"We need to discuss this..."

It was silent in the castle, both Pg and marceline fast asleep on the bed.

Or at least they were.

A loud knocking was heard, causing the vampire queen to get up, she growled and yawned. Ugh, she didn't feel like getting out of bed, she just wanted to rest for awhile, then maybe eat something to forget her worries.

But no, she had to get up for...whatever this was.

She got to her feet and opened the door to her room, peppermint butler was waiting for her, this made her even more irritated. "Ugh...what do you want?", she said, ""Can i just rest already?"

"It's important...", he said, Pb has information she wants you to hear..."

"Well, can't she wait till i'm not in my jammies, and sleeping?", she said, rubbing her eyes.

"You're not in your jammies...", he said, correcting her, making her give him a face.

"Look, what is it?", she asked, "Before i kick you out?"

"She knows the wizard you are looking for..", he said silently, "A criminal to the wizard kingdom, someone very much capable of creating your friend...", he eyed bubba, "The grand wizard will excuse what happened if we find them..."

"But i need to talk to them, we need them to help bubs...", she complained, "We can't just turn them over..."

"Yes, but in order for the benefit of all of us, we need to track this person down and turn them in...", he explained, "Our current status with the wizards isn't very good, and we need to fix it before any kind of war breaks out..."

" _ **Yeah**_ , but-!", she complained.

"He has to wait marceline...orders from the princess..."

"Well, that's stupid, we spent months trying to do this, and we're not even going to complete it?!", she growled, "Look, whatever, i'm going to find this person myself...and none of you are going to stop me..."

"Without any help?", he said.

"I can handle myself, and bubba will join me..."m she said, "We'll find them before bonnie does and we'll get what we need first before you cage them for life..."

She slammed the door in the butlers face and starting packing her stuff, bubba woke up from all the noise she was making, rubbing his eyes. He looked at her, concerned about her current state.

"What's happening?", he asked, "Emergency?"

"Something like that, pack up, we're getting out of this place...", she said, "We have work to do..."

He started immediately, shoving his clothes and belongings into the bags they came in, not even bothering to fold and organize them like her usually did during most trips, "Why the hurry?"

"We think we know who it is, who brought you to life...we need to find them...soon..."

Bubba gulped, "Y-you found them? I-I wow, t-that's amazing...y-yeah, lets hurry up...!", he had so many questions that how could he not be excited for this discovery. This was not something to lollygag for.

He got ready very quickly, and picked up schwabl before the two left the castle, using marceline's invisibility to escape.

They dropped everything off at home.

"Where can we find them?", bubba asked immediately, "And is bonnie meeting us there?"

Marceline bit her lip, "Yeah...something like that...w-we should catch up with her, for the directions...and stuff...", she realized she didn't know the wizards name and location, well this wasn't going to end well.

How would she ever find them without the proper info?

She'd have to get it from bonnie.

And if she and bonnie were now on opposite sides, she'd have to get what she needed from her without her knowledge.

She didn't really know where to search for the princess first, considering she might've been on the hunt already, but the best course was that she might still be in the wizard city, planning on their hunt.

Bubba followed her, half confused, and half excited.

She was flying with him, holding onto him as best as she could, not wanting him to get injured again. He didn't mind though, flying was much better than falling 50 feet onto the ground, and becoming a sticky puddle.

Even if he had considered once.

He wanted to ask marceline so many questions, but he felt uncomfortable doing so.

She didn't look too happy either, making him even more quiet during their trip, maybe she had a fight with bonnie? Of at least, that was the best he could think of at the current moment.

When they arrived, marceline put him down and told him to keep quiet, she couldn't get into the city herself, but bonnie had to come out sometime. She watched the entrance, like a predator hunting prey.

She was ready for anything, she grabbed bubba arm, she didn't need him being kidnapped a second time around here.

Especially since they weren't off the hook yet for the disturbance.

"Marceline...what's wrong?", he asked silently, she turned towards him, red faced.

"I-I...what do you mean?"

"I mean your acting weird...like...REALLY weird...", he gave her a look, "Don't lie to me...whats happening here...?"

"Well..", she started, "We need to find them, before bonnie does...and look i gotta get some info here, right now...we gotta track them down quickly...", she kept lookout, trying to avoid looking at him.

"Track them down, wait...are they-?", he asked, suddenly nervous.

"A criminal? That's kinda what i heard...", she said, before trying to assure him, "B-but i don't know yet!"

He leaved against the rock wall, "A criminal, making me? B-But why?"

"Shhh, please, it might not be true...don't worry about it...", she peaked behind the wall to see bonnie walk out with a bunch of guards and other wizards.

Bingo

She looked at bubba, "Ok i'm gonna sneak by and listen in ok? I want you to- Hey...what's wrong?", she noticed the sadness growing in him. He looked sick to his stomach, like he couldn't stand.

"I don't think i want to go anymore...", he said softly.

"But bubs...c'mon...we've been trying to do this for months...", she said, "Why not?"

"I-I don't want to know why i'm here, not if i was made by-by someone like _**that.**_.."

She looked shocked.

"What if i was made as a weapon? o-or to do something awful...i-i...i can't do this...", he stood up, "I-I need to go home..."

She grabbed his hand, "N-no...please...don't...c'mon...we're a team...", she tried to help him sit back down but he brushed her off.

"N-no thanks marcy, i-i really...I-i don't wanna talk about it...", he said.

"Well, then can you please...just stay here ok?", she said, begging him, "I-I don't want you getting hurt again...".

Reluctantly, he sat down, only to make her happy.

Not that he felt very good at the moment, leaning against the wall again, clutching onto himself.

She gave him one last glance before sneaking her way over to the princess, glad she had invisibility,she got close enough to hear their conversation, but not enough to be noticed. Bonnie was speaking and giving out orders, like usual.

"Ok...maybe they're in the dark woods, we can draw them out...?"

Nobody seemed comfortable with her in charge tho, one wizard raised his hand, and the princess called on him.

"Well, doodle wizard hasn't been seen in years, vanished without a trace, there has been very few sightings and not enough info to establish where they are now hiding...", he said, "They could be off continent by now..."

Marceline felt her heart sink.

"Well, there is always a chance...", bonnie said plainly, "Nothing is quite impossible, as long as we get the info we need and track down their possible locations, we'll be able to find them easily..."

"But it's been years...", one whined.

"Do not worry...i promise you, with my intelligence...we may finally be able to put this mystery to rest...", she told them, then she handed them trackers, in order to find out where they are at all times.

"You guys were selected for this mission, and i'm going to position you in different locations to begin the search...", she looked through her notes.

Marceline wondered if she should give up, even bonnie didn't know where they were, and if someone as crazy as bonnie couldn't find them, how was she supposed to? She sighed, there was no way she could do this without bonnie's help.

Bubba was out of experience in this world to help.

And finn and jake might end up playing both sides, considering they were her knights.

She never felt more frustrated with everyone.

She continued to listen, wizards were being positioned in different kingdoms and locations around Ooo. Bonnie had a tracker, and walkie talkies with her, maybe if she could get her hands on them...

She crept closer, they were starting to split, some wizards teleported, others had unusually looking rides.

She reached out for the device when close enough.

But then Bonnie grabbed her arm, Startling her...

"I know you're there marceline...", she said, "What are you trying to do?"

Marceline made herself visible, "How did you know i was even here?", she looked dumbfounded.

"Well, you need me...you can't exactly try and find them on your own without my help...", she said, grin on her face.

"I-I need to talk to them, you can't just lock them up!", she argued, "What about everything we've been trying to do...?!"

"Marceline, relax, we'll get to talk to them i'm sure...but we need to find them and turn them in, apparently they've caused alot of trouble in the past and if this gets us off the hook, then we have to do it...", she sighed, "We'll be fine ok?"

"I still don't think it's a good idea...what if they betray us?", she said, "What if they're totally lying bon?"

"It's worth a shot, it's a lead, and i think it's totally possible that this is what we need...", she looked around, "Where's bubba?"

She nodded behind her, "He's over there, but uh...he's not doing too well...again..", she scratched his cheek, "Bonnie, why would some weird wizard criminal make bubba? What would be the point?"

She shrugged, " I dunno, but we'll find out..."

Marceline was dissatisfied with her answer, and bonnie could see it plainly on her face.

"Look, you need to find them, and whether you like it or not, you need my help...if we're going to do this, we need to do it together. You will get the info you need, and we'll be on good terms here...", she said plainly.

"And what if something goes wrong?", she said, still angry.

"Simple, i'll handle it myself...", she crossed her arms, "I know you're upset, but i need you to trust me...". She gave a sigh, "You feel betrayed, I know, I promise you that things are going to get better, but we do have to turn them in..."

Marceline growled a little.

"You were planning on finding them yourself, but you know you and bubba can't find them alone, this world is too big to just simply track down one person. We are a team marceline, we don't agree, but i need your help as well..."

"But I don't trust those wizards, they got bubba hurt and us almost killed...!", she argued, "And you decided to align with them without even telling me about it!". He eyes were glowing red now, making her more intimidating.

"I know, and i don't entirely trust them either, but i need to fix what happened and if this helps, then we have to do it. You don't want them attacking us again, attacking bubba? We have to takes chances..."

She hugged marceline, "I'm sorry I didn't say anything...I know I should have discussed this with you before, i'm sorry for upsetting you...", she sighed, "I just don't want you guys to get hurt..."

"Yeah, I-I guess maybe...y-you're right..." marceline mumbled softly, "Like usual..."

"Even I make mistakes marceline, you know that..."

She grumbled softly.

"C'mon marceline, you need me, and I need you...", she said, taking her hand, "Please don't fight with me, we'll do this together...just like we planned..."

"Why?", she asked, softer now, "What the heck do you even need me for?"

"Well, besides being powerful enough to possibly take them down, you know bubba, interrogate them...", she said simply, "Listen, everything is going to be fine, i know what i'm doing, now please go get bubba before something happens to him..."

She let go of her, floating off.

"Marceline? You don't have to work with me if you feel uncomfortable doing so...", she said, "I get why you're upset about this whole thing..."

"I'll tell you later...", she said, "I need to think..."

"Ok..."

Bubba slept on the couch, blankets under him to make the hard furniture less of a bother.

Marceline paced back and forth on the carpet, not sure what would be the best at all.

Bonnie was surely her best way of finding them, but there was a chance they'd lose them forever and that the mystery would remain unsolved, or she could find them herself, take possible months longer to find them and get what she needed.

Ugh, why couldn't things be so much simpler?

She touched bubba's hair, nothing was going right for this guy, they were so close now, she could almost feel it.

Her mind was still fuzzy, and she knew she needed to sleep herself but she didn't want to. She needed to make a decision, and the sooner she made one the sooner she could sleep peacefully tonight.

And it was taking so much longer than she wanted it to.

She thought about what would be best for her friend on the couch, what would be the best for the both of them, before sitting down next to him and picking up the phone and dialing the number.

She took a deep breath, hoping that this really was the best choice for everyone.

And that meant everyone.

"Marceline! ", came a voice, "So, are you in, or out?"

She relaxed, watching the young man on the couch move in his sleep, probably having nightmares as usual.

She didn't blame him, he had plenty to be scared of.

She sighed, "I'm trusting you, just this once, I just hope i don't regret it at all...working in this way".

"You won't regret this marceline, i promise, don't even worry...but thank you for giving me another chance."

The princess sighed in relief, "Thank you, I promise...I won't disappoint you..."

"Am i in?", she said impatiently, "Your weird group?"

"You're in marceline!", she said excitedly, "Tomorrow, the hunt begins...be ready.."

"Yeah...I'm in...let the hunt commence", she said softly.

"Marceline, thanks for being my friend, despite everything that happened earlier...", she said, "I'm glad we're still gonna do this thing together..."

"Yeah...me too", she said, still unsure about everything.

The Hunt Was On...


	19. With Jake The Dog And Finn The Human

"Marceline, any magic readings in your location?"

The vampire queen held the walkie talkie up to her face, looking around.

"No, your stupid, "magic-detecting" device isn't finding anything out here...", she said, "Guess this forest is pretty clean..."

"We had some readings in a few other areas, but none of them were the guy we were looking for...just other wizards, it took a lot of apologizing on my part, well...through these devices of course...", she said.

"Well, it's probably really creepy to be tracking them down and trying to catch them...", she said, sarcastically.

"Look, it's still pretty effective tho, we're making progress by finding were they _aren't_ at...", she said. smartly, "And you're doing a pretty great job marceline, especially with your vampire senses..."

"I didn't like having to leave bubba tho...", she said, mumbling, "I wanted him to come along..."

"He'll be fine Marcy, Finn and Jake are watching him, just give him some time to relax and cool off...", she said, "He could use a break from all of this anyway, so honestly, i don't really blame him..."

"Yeah...I guess I wouldn't either...", she said, "Guess i'm just being protective again..."

"Awwww, it's cute marceline, don't feel upset. What you're trying to do for him is amazing, at least to me, and you guys are both really awesome...", she said from the other line, " Juts keep looking out for him..."

"Yeah, i will doofus...", she smirked, floating around the forest, looking for a signal.

"Finn and him have become pretty good friends, maybe some sword practice and stories will cheer him up?", she suggested, " Bubba will be just fine, we should just focus on the task at hand..."

"Yeah, but we've been at this for days...", marceline whined, "And...we haven't gotten squat..."

"Well, i didn't say it would be TOTALLY easy, we'll find them eventually, don't worry marceline...we have such a big team on the case, we'll definitely find them...", she said, "The grand master wizard needed someone with my gadgets and experience to help..."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask...", marceline said, punching away tree branches, "What did this guy do anyway? What sorta wizard crime is causing them to be hated like this?".

"Well...I don't know the full details, but i do know that they used their magic wrongly, and it lead to issues for wizard city, they've been hunting them down for hundreds of years...and never found them...", she said.

"Wait, WHAT?!", marceline almost screamed, " _ **Hundreds**_ of years...?! Are you sure they aren't dead?! I mean, i know they can live for a long time, but how can we be sure this guy is still alive?!"

"Like they said, the signs...", she explained.

"Well, if they've manged to evade the cops this long, i give them credit...", she said, "Maybe the two of us could be pretty cool friends after all this..."

"Pfffttt, i'm sure you guys would be _**complete**_ angels together...", PB mocked, "Now, enough chit chat, we both have work to get done, and you need to keep working in that forest before sunrise..."

"Yeah...yeah...", she continued moving around the forest, ears twitching at every sound.

"Ok...i'll check on you in a sec, got a few more guys to check in with...take care out there ok? I'll let you know any news...",

"Fine...whatever...", she replied, "Cya bon bon..."

Bubba quietly read on the bed, trying to make himself comfortable, despite his troubled mind.

Finn and jake were downstairs, and he didn't quite know what they were doing, although based on all the noise it must be something pretty crazy.

He told them he wanted to be alone, and they did so, thankfully.

Letting him have his privacy in the bedroom gave him more time to think, to relax. Part of him wanted to go on the trip with marceline, but he didn't feel comfortable doing so, not for a long time.

The ideas that he was created for bad purposes, they needed to go away.

He needed time, time to himself, while marceline and pb handled this .

Time to recover and relax, which wasn't easy with the ruckus going on downstairs.

He put down the book, sighed, and got up off the bed. He was walking much better, his leg fully recovered, and perfectly normal. The young man brushed himself off and made his way down the ladder.

Finn and jake were in the kitchen, a mess surrounding them, food and plates everywhere.

The boys froze at the sight of the prince, bubba looked completely angry at the moment, "What is going on down here?! You guys ruined the kitchen, it's a mess! Marceline is gonna be so angry..."

"No, no wait!", finn said really quickly, "We...we were kinda trying to make you food...and we mighta been spooked by some spiders crawling around in here.."

"What, spiders?", the prince looked confused, "You guys are afraid of spiders?"

"N-no, but it's really gross, how does marceline live in these conditions? How do **_you_** live under these conditions...?", jake said, moving his arms in fright, as if things were crawling on them.

Bubba shrugged, "You learn to live with it..."

"H-how are you feeling?"", finn asked, trying to clean up the walls with towels, and not doing a great job of it.

"Fine...", bubba replied, not sounding quite fine, "when is marceline coming back...?"

"We don't really know dude, she could be out for a long time...", the hero boy answered, making the prince's shoulders sag in disappointment. Jake looked at him, concerned, "She'll be fine man, you don't have to worry..."

"Well, I know but...", he felt himself grow red.

Jake smirked, "We know you like her, relax...but she can handle herself, she's super crazy epic with her powers, can take down anything..."

Bubba sighed, thoughts of Marshall and Fionna coming back to mind.

"Well, look...I-I'm reading upstairs...can you guys please clean this up and quite down...?", he asked politely, "The last week has been a tough one and i really just want some time to myself for awhile..."

"Oh...uh...sorry bout that...", jake said laughing, "We kinda lost control, maybe..."

"Yeah, sorry, we'll clam down...don't worry...", Finn assured him, bubba walked to the ladder, but then stopped and looked at them. He sighed, then sat down at the counter instead, "H-hey guys?", he said, trying to get their attention.

They looked at him, still attempting too clean up the mess carefully.

"Something up?"

"Well...I-I wanna ask, what do you think, about me being...who i am?", he said, "Being non-existent in this world...?"

Finn and jake exchanged glances, not sure what to say, or how to say it.

"Well, we don't really think it's that weird...", finn started, "I mean, you're still a normal guy, and it doesn't really make you any less cool and stuff...", bubba didn't look upset, so he continued, "I mean, you're fun and stuff...and Marcy sure likes you..."

Bubba blushed, "Yeah well, It's just...everything is different now..."

"Change is always weird...and it sucks, but you can't hide from it...", jake said," It's like...nature or something..."

"Yeah...i guess..."

"It's not weird, me and finn have friends from all kinda strange places, you'll fit here well!", jake reached over and patted his back, " You're totally cool, you can start a new life here, with us..."

"Yeah, yeah i know...", he said softly, "Guess it's just a hard thing to realize..."

"I bet, but don't worry, we're your friends too, and we got your back, you know that...", the brothers alughed, and bubba made a small smile in response.

"Thanks for cheering me up...", he said, "I just have alot on my mind..."

"You're too cool to be made for evil stuff man, don't let it get to you...", finn assured him, picking up a shattered plate, "We'll uh...we'll replace all the stuff we broke...we promise...sorry bout it.."

"It's ok, i know you will...", he smiled, watching them, " I'm sure marceline will understand...maybe.."

"So how about you two?", jake said, dumping everything in the trash, "Are you two together and stuff? I mean, it's cool if you're not...you both just seem to act like you might be a couple...y'know...", jake's voice suddenly sounded embarrassed.

"Oh...well...", bubba said, gulping, "I-I mean...I wouldn't call us a couple..."

"Oh, so just friends?", finn piped up.

"I wouldn't say that either...", he rubbed his cheek, as if he could remove the red in his face.

"Well...you should ask her out again...", jake suggested, "Go on a date again...ask her when she gets back..."

"W-Well...", he stuttered, hugging himself uncomfortably, "W-well...i Haven't thought about it...i mean...after what happened last time the two of us agreed to remain friends...and just keep it that way..."

Jake's eyes narrowed. "Nothing has happened between you guys since?"

"Well...", he scratched his head, "We mighta kissed...once, and she mighta told me she loved me but..."

"WHAT?!"

It only took jake seconds to leap onto the prince and hung him in joy, wrapping his arms around him over and over again, "Oh my god that's AMAZING BRO! She likes you two, you guys gotta talk now!"

"She has too much on her mind, and can you please get off me...?", bubba laughed, "You're squeezing me a little too tight..."

Jake let him go, " I'm happy for ya man, if you need any dating advice, i'm here for you..."

"Well...", he looked at jake skeptically, "I'm not sure..."

"Nah, jake's great with the ladies...", finn stepped in, "He helped set me and Flame princess up years ago..."

"Well...yeah...but...", he started.

"But nothing, Don't you want to at least try again?"

The prince felt the back of his head, "Well...look...I-I don't feel like talking about this right now...just finish cleaning up, I'm gonna head back upstairs...", he stood up and headed up the ladder, leaving his friends behind.

Finn punched jake's arm.

Bubba put his book down as soon as he went upstairs, suddenly not in the mood to read anymore.

Marceline made her way home in disappointment, nothing, absolutely nothing.

They'll have to try tomorrow, ** _again.  
_**  
She was getting sick of bonnie giving her false hope.

"Any day now..."

"We'll get them tomorrow.."

"Don't even worry..."

She just needed some rest, especially after being gone almost the whole entire day, she even considered ditching a few times, just to get a nap in, But Bonnie would've totally killed her if she had done so.

At least she kept plenty of red on her for when she needed to eat, last thing she needed was to go ramp-id.

The most she got today was false leads and branches in her hair, a complete waste of the vampire's time. If this didn't mean so much to her, she probably would've given up by now, moved on to what she was planning on doing.

But it was only a few days in, they had time, and patience.

Hopefully...

She checked her watch, she only just made it to the entrance of her cave, and it was almost midnight.

She needed a long nap.

She cupped her hands around her mouth, calling out to the house, "HEYYY GUYS, I'M HOMMMEEEE!". She assumed finn and jake were still there, especially considering the noise coming from the house couldn't be the prince.

She entered her home to find finn and jake struggling to clean up the house.

Finn and jake froze at the sight of her, jake comically hiding in the house, and finn on the floor on his knees, he fell over when she walked in, flat on his face. Marceline gave them both a questioning look and put her stuff down.

"Uhhh...hi?"

"MARCY!", the two of them stood and and hugged her tightly, she grinned wide.

"Did you get them?"

"How was it?"

She laughed and pushed them off her, "It was really boring, and nah, we didn't get to find them this time...and uh...hey why exactly were you two cleaning up my house? Did something happen?"

Finn and jake got down on their knees and begged, "Don't kill us, we sorta ruined your kitchen!"

"PLEASE!", jake begged with him.

"Guys, chill out...i'm not gonna kill you noobs...", she laughed, " Look if you guys broke stuff, then you all have to replace it...no biggie...as long as it wasn't something like my axe bass...", she made a face at him, "It wasn't my axe right?"

"No...just some kitchen plates...and stuff..."

"Good, because if you broke my axe...", she transformed her face, " _ **Then**_ _ **I might have to kill you...**_ "

Both boys shivered, and she laughed in response.

"Relax you guys, so, where's bubba?", she scoped the room, "Upstairs again?"

They nodded, jake stepped forward, " He's reading and junk, he's kinda been up there most of the time you were gone..."

"Does he seem...normal?", she asked, "Is he ok?"

"He just kept telling us he wanted to be alone...", finn mentioned, " I guess he has alot on his mind..."

"I get it...well, thank you guys for taking care of the place...and him...it means alot to me...", she said, she patting both of their heads, "Don't worry bout the kitchen, but you guys are totally gonna make up for it..."

"Yeah, we promise...hero's word...", finn said, putting his hand on his heart.

"But you should really get rid of those spiders...", jake said, "They really freak me out...how do you live with this?"

She shrugged, "I survived the apocalypse, spiders are nothing to me at this point..."

She then flew past them, "You guys finish up, i'm gonna check on bubba...you guys can stay if you want, and maybe i can convince bubba to hang with us for a bit, i need a break after today..."

She climbed up the ladder, and finn turned to jake, who had a mischievous grin on his face.

"Jake?", he said, "I know what you're thinking, we're not setting them up man..."

"But finn, my dating advice is awesome, i'm a ** _great_** matchmaker!", he put his arm around his brother's shoulder, "Name one time my advice failed..."

"Bubblegum...multiple times...", finn mentioned, making jake release him.

"Oh c'mon...this is different, these two totally like each other...!" Jake whined to him.

"No man...i'm gonna get back to work now...", finn walked away from his brother, and went back to work, making the magic dog frown.

"Well fine, i can do it myself...", he pouted, "and i totally won't fail this time..."

"Sure dude, i have faith in you...", finn said, smiling at him, "But maybe you should let them work that out themselves, y'know...like you and lady did, normal couple junk...", jake was still pouting, but couldn't help but agree a little.

"So, where should we go to replace this stuff?"

Marceline found bubba sleeping on the bed, moving around like crazy, having more crazy dreams again.

She sat on the bed next to him and removed her shoes, geez what a day...

"Hey there...", came a mumble from next to her.

"Hey...bubba...", she answered back, hugging him with one arm, "Did you miss me too much?"

He smiled, "A little bit, finn and jake's loudness isn't that same as yours...", she punched him gently.

"We didn't get any progress done...just another boring wasteful day...", she ruffled his hair a bit to mess with him, "It's ok, it's alot more fun being back home anyway...we haven't gotten to hang out for awhile..."

He sat up, "Heh...yeah...no, we should hang out some more..."

"Well, now that i'm back from bonnie's wrath, maybe you, me, and the boys could hang out for a bit...i mean, unless you wanna get back to your _reading_?", she said, nodding towards the book lying on the bed.

"Oh uh...nah...", he said, "I can get back to that thing later, tell me about today? I mean, you didn't find them...but did you find any hints? Clues? I mean, did you find anything that could help?"

She shrugged, "Unless you count us eliminating locations of where they could be living, then uh...nope..."

"Well, they can't hide forever...", he mumbled, "There's only so many places they could be here on...Ooo.."

"Hey uh...bubba...? Are you gonna be ok?", she bit her lip, "Are you going through more emotional stuff again?"

"I've just been through alot in a few months...", he said, trying to fix his hair unsuccessfully, "And it's hard to process..."

"Yeah...i bet..., she laughed awkwardly, "C'mon...let's head back downstairs...I have some games we could play, or movies?"

"Sure...sure, anything to help...I can't sleep properly...", he held his head and stood up off the bed.

"Having more nightmares?", she asked, slightly concerned.

"Something like that...", he mumbled, "It's harder to rest easy when you know what i know..."

"Well, then maybe you should go back to sleep...", she suggested, before he shook his head.

"No, i'd rather do something else right now...", he said, "c'mon, let's do something, anything, I'm tired of being in this crazy room...", and with that he climbed down the ladder. Marceline sighed, before she heard bubba call out to her.

"Er...marceline? Can you come down here real quick?"

He didn't sound alright, and she followed down his path to the living room.

"What's u- oh...", she felt sudden embarrassment, jake was finishing setting up a dining table, which wouldn't have been nearly as weird if he wasn't clearly lighting candles. He waved at the two of them, ignoring the looks on their faces.

"Jake?", bubba asked, face still weirded out " What are doing?"

"I made you guys dinner!", he answered.

"What happened to cleaning up my house?', marceline asked, "you guys fooling with us?"

"What, no! I was trying to make food originally...before...yeah..", he said, "Finn's getting you new stuff, and i went back to cooking...", he finished what he was doing and went back into the kitchen, "Sit down you guys, i'll get your stuff..."

"Jake...are you setting us up?", bubba asked, slightly upset.

"W-what?! No man, just making you guys food, it's not that weird...", bubba could hear the sudden awkward tone in his voice.

"And you? Aren't you gonna eat?" Marceline asked, crossing her arms, " Because I only see two chairs at this table..."

"I-I'm waiting for finn...", jake lied.

The two shrugged and sat down at the table, both feeling a mix of embarrassment and slight frustration at the fact that jake was trying to set them up. Bubba felt especially embarrassed, considering their conversation earlier.

He cleared his throat and avoided eye contact with the vampire queen.

She didn't seem any better, she looked very irritated, like she'd probably hit jake for putting her in such a situation. It was already awkward enough when bonnie teased them, but having jake literally force them to date like this was even more awkward.

She silently swore, wanting to sneak away quickly.

Then she smirked.

Jake returned, holding out a tray of food and putting it on the table, "There you guys...go?", a empty chair was at the table where the vampire queen once sat.

"Hey...uh...where's marceline...?", jake asked bubba, who turned around.

"Uh...", bubba's confused expression told jake he didn't know.

"Marceline! Hey! C'mon, i spent alot of time making this!", jake said, "Where did you go?!"

Cackling could be heard from the ceiling, she must've been invisible. Bubba didn't blame her, he'd want to be invisible too in this situation, it would be a sure way to hide his embarrassment.

Bubba laughed, suddenly this became much less awkward, and alot more normal.

Jake shook, suddenly terrified of where marceline was, "C-cut it out!", he jumped and he felt someone grab him from behind.

"You _scared,_ Jake?", came some hissing.

"N-no...", he denied, trying to fend her invisible self away from him.

Then marceline made her face visible, and transformed it into a hideous beast, growling at the frightened magic dog.

Jake ran out of the house, screaming, and marceline sat back down at the table.

Bubba clapped slowly, smirking in a way that would rival the queen herself.

Marceline gave him a playful bow, "Thank you, just doing my job my prince..."

"Well, you did a great job.", he joked, before staring at the plates of food in front of them, "Would you still like to continue this dinner? You can have the honor of getting the first serving..."

"Nah, you get some first, before I eat it all up in one swoop...", she pushed the plates towards him and he put some spaghetti, bread, and some sandwiches on his plate. Marceline would take some herself if he didn't make her plate too.

"Is jake always this scared of you?", bubba asked, "You really freaked him out.."

"Yeah...well, vampires tend to freak people out, it's kinda part of being a vampire...", she shoved food into her mouth sloppily, " Bloodsucking monsters don't exactly sound like adorable, huggable , creatures..."

"I don't know marceline...you seem to be the exception..", he joked, "Unless you're not really a vampire..."

"You trying to mess with me?", she gave him a matching smirk.

"Maybe...", he played along.

"Pffffft, you're a really weird guy, you know that?", she joked, "Weirder than most people i get to meet..."

"Well, it's not everyday you meet a fanfictional prince created by your bestfriend/ father figure...", he joked with her, " Unless those guys come pretty often around here..."

They both erupted into small laughs and giggles, making the scene feel so much more comfortable than what jake probably had in mind in the first place, just a nice night together, something that felt natural.

"Hey uh...it's really nice, getting to hang out with you again...", she said, " I've been so busy with everything the last few days that we haven't gotten to have moments like this...y'know?"

"Hey, but you get to hang out with bonnie again", he said, "And she clearly means alot to you too, so...i suppose that's still pretty cool too..."

"Yeah...", she said, " Yeah i guess it's still kinda cool..."

Her tone changed, sounding much less enthusiastic, and bubba took note of that quickly.

Trying to change the subject, he playfully poked her from across the table, " Cheer up, you're home now, you get to sleep and get a break...", he heard schwabl make his way under the table to play with their feet.

He put the small dog on his lap and held his paws, moving them around, "See schwabl is happy to see you...". He made the small dog wave at his master, getting a smile out of marceline.

"You're a dork, you know that?", she replied.

"What else is new?", he joked.

Jake peeked in from the front window, marceline might've freaked him out too much to go back inside, but he still wanted to know what was going on in there. They didn't seem to have noticed him, which was a good sign.

They actually seemed to be having fun, smiling and laughing.

He felt pretty proud of himself.

"Jake? What are you doing out here?", a voice came from behind him, startling jake again.

"Finn!?", he said, seeing his brother standing behind him, confused look on his face.

"Yeah man, I finally got the replacements for marceline's stuff...I mean, I was planning on finding some cool magic stuff from a cave or something, but i'm sure this market stuff is cool too...", he held out a box of plates and pans.

"Oh...right, well, check it out dude, they're dating!", jake said, going back to watching the two royals talk.

Finn walked over to the window with his brother, "Yeah, looks like you did a good job man, they seem to be having alot of fun in there, what did you do?", he put the box down and tickled jake, "Some love magic!?".

Jake laughed, "Nah... all i had to do was run away like crazy...", he pushed Finn away, " And see? They're really hitting it off!".

"Pffft, ok dude...", finn said, he picked the box back up, "But i better bring this stuff inside...you can come in if you want, i'll protect you."

Jake eyed between marceline and finn before shrinking down and hiding in finn's box, "Don't let her get me man...", he cowered inside the box a little before finn walked through the front door to greet his friends.

"HEY GUYS!", Finn said, giving them both high fives, "I'm finally back with the stuff, what's up?".

"The usual..", marceline replied, "You wanna hang out with us? There's some extra food left.."

"Jake made more than we can eat apparently...", bubba explained, "even for the vampire queen here...surprisingly enough..."

She elbowed him.

"Well, sure, that sounds kinda cool...are you sure you don't mind though? If you guys want to be alon-", finn started, putting down the box and acting nervous. Jake snuck out and hid in the couch.

"It's kinda more fun with friends, and besides...the more the merrier right?", marceline suggested, "We could play some video games and watch movies and junk, c'mon finny...", she flicked his nose, "You know you wanna hang out for a bit..."

"Well, I guess there's nothing wrong with that...", finn drawled, " As long as you guys are cool with it...can jake join us? Maybe we could call bonnie and stuff?"

"Bonnie's too busy right now, but jake...sure...", marceline said, slightly annoyed.

"Something wrong marceline?", finn asked her, putting her new plates and cooking stuff away now.

"It's nothing, just wish bonnie would stop working me and everyone like crazy...", she shrugged, "It's driving me nuts...". She brushed some hair out of her face, " We don't get to hang out as friends anymore..."

"Oh...", finn said, embarrassed.

"It's not a big deal, it's just frustrating having your friends be so busy all time...", she said, " Bonnie is becoming a workaholic again..."

"Well, can you blame her? This is a big issue, she's gotta do whatever she can to pull this off...", jake's voice came from the couch, surprising marceline and prince gumball, then he realized he gave up his location and tried to hide again.

Marceline pulled him out of the couch, tossing him away "I know, but I want to hang out with my best friends again...".

Bubba put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Hey...as soon as all this is over, we'll all get to hang out and do ridiculous things all day, sound like a plan...?". He made a face in an attempt to make her laugh.

And it worked.

"PFfffffftt, sure, sure...that sounds good...", she pushed him, " Sorry, i'm being a party pooper, I've just been kinda stressed...".

"Well, i suppose that is indeed something we share in common nowadays...", he replied, pushing her back. He, fionna, and marsh used to rough play at times back in the day, back home, _although most of the time it was because marshall was trying to mess with him..._

Finn looked at them, "So...uh...what now?"

Jake felt the spot he landed on when marceline tossed him, "Well, you can start by apologizing...", when marceline gave him a face, he looked between the two royals and smirked hard.

" _You guys were so cute~_ ", he said, in a baby voice, "You guys were really hitting it off back there..."

Making both of them turn red and give him matching looks that could kill.

Finn laughed, "Heh...I'll pick out a game, marcy, where do you keep your video games and stuff?", marceline still looked at jake angrily, not even acknowledging finn being there at all. So finn had to speak up again in order to get her attention.

"Marcy? Hey uh, gaming? ", he waved his hand's in front of her face, finally getting her attention.

She woke up from her trance, blush removed from her cheeks, but not quite from bubba's just yet.

"Oh uh...yeah, games...sorry, they're in my room, closet, in a box labeled "Video Games", it's kinda just full of games I found from the wreckage...I'm pretty sure they all work, but it's been awhile...", she twirled her hair with her fingers, "Y-you uh, you and jake go up and pick something since you're our guests..."

Jake wiggled his eyes at them, " You guys need some _alone time_ together, sure thing man..."

Bubba face-palmed, and helped marceline usher them upstairs.

When they were out of the room the two exchanged looks and laughed, turning around to clean up the mess they left, leaving some food out for their friends upstairs. At least the two of them couldn't mess with them for a bit, although marceline was sure they were plotting out new ways to get them when they came back down.

"Pfffft, they're trying to set us up...", bubba joked, washing dishes.

"They're weirdos, don't listen to them...", marceline said, joining him, "They're just trying to mess with us again..."

"Heh...yeah...", he replied, " I-I'm sorry about all that..."

"Pffft, nah...it was pretty funny honestly, plus I missed scaring and messing with those boys...", she snickered, " I should go back out and play pranks again, it's been _ **way**_ too long since I put wolves in bonnie's room..."

"You what?!", he replied, slightly scared.

"Just kidding...sorta...", she said, hitting his shoulder, "Hey...maybe you could join me next time? Most of the time I do it by myself, but sometimes I get help from bonnie or the boys...but since bon is busy and the boys aren't always available...maybe you and I could work together?"

"Heh, well, i'm sure sure about me pranking...or at least pranking in your kinda way...", he remarked, " If you think I could handle it, then I suppose I could give it a try, but no wolves, ok?"

She stuck out her tongue, "You're no fun..."

"See?", he said.

"Awww, c'mon...", she bumped against him playfully, " Join the dark side...you'd have so much more fun..."

He bumped her back, " Pfffffft, y'know, I can have just as much fun without breaking any rules, or possible getting anyone hurt..."

"Y'know bubs, if it's cool for me to bring up, I-I uh...read in the books that you're kind of a competitive gamer...", she said, "Y'know, being great in card wars, and playing with board games...you seem to like them..."

"Yeah, I haven't played card wars alot recently though, the time we played with finn and jake, well...I didn't really try...", he shrugged, " I had a unbeatable strategy till cake figured me out and beat me in the championship, and afterwards...I didn't play the game too much..."

"Pfffft, it's cool dude, At least you got to see me in action when I kicked their butts...", she bumped him again, " But you outta tell me anything you can remember about card wars and your strategic nerd stuff, we could kick everyone's butt together..."

"That actually sounds like fun...", he said, sighing, " It was pretty fun back home, especially with my friends..."

"Well, it still can be...", she told him gently, " You always got friends in us, no matter what ends up happening..."

"Haven't worn my crown in weeks...", he mentioned, "For once it has dust on it, guess that happens when you forget your a prince...", he bit his lip, and felt the top of his head.

"Eh, nothing wrong with just being average...", she said, " It sorta gives you a different look on life, not like all royalty can tell what it's like to be in their people's shoes or know their struggles..."

"True, true...but then again, when pesky people are _**pranking**_ them all the time, they probably have no interest..", he joked, bringing back the subject of pranking again. He finished the dishes and dried his hands.

marceline stopped what she was doing and playfully hit him, " Pffft, I'm no pest, I'm just doing my job as a master prankster...", they both playfully attacked each other and marceline ended up wrestling him to the ground, pinning him down.

"Sorry dude, you're out of luck if you think you can take me down...", she joked, giving him a smirk that spelled trouble.

"W-well, I-I was just letting you win, you know how competitive I am!", he was trying to not look intimidated, or embarrassed, but she could see right through him.

She smirked above him, "Right bubba...you totally let me win, I have vampire strength you know...it tends to be kinda hard to defeat someone who is known to be powerful and immortal..."

He was red faced, "Er...well..."

She laughed, "You're cute..."

"You're both kinda cute...", a yellow dog stood in the living room, crossing his arms and smirking. The two royals stood up immediately, bubba tried to stand up so fast that he and and marceline bonked their foreheads together.

They both rubbed their foreheads in pain, and tried to look at jake.

They were both flustered and rather angry, bubba could've sworn marceline's eyes were blowing bright red to match her red face.

Finn came down the ladder, he looked between the three of them, extremely confused. Both bubba and marceline gave him an irritated look, and jake gave him an eyebrow wiggle, but his confused expression didn't change.

"I-I uh...I got the game you guys wanted...", the human held out a small game case for a fighter game.

Trying to pretend what happened hadn't happened, bubba walked towards finn and took the game, not even looking at jake.

Marceline probably would've killed jake if bubba or finn wasn't currently in the room with them, she gave them both the silent treatment and joined bubba and helped him put in the small disk.

Finn looked at jake, wondering just what exactly he did.

Jake shrugged and sat down on the couch, finn joining him, both feeling extremely uncomfortable on the hard cushions.

Both bubba and marceline sat on the floor in front of them, continuing to ignore them, not even offering a controller for them to play with them, marceline tried to explain the game to bubba, who was constantly pushing the menu button.

"Jake...what did you do now...?", finn whispered to his brother.

"I didn't do anything man, I just walked in the room and they looked like they were gonna kiss or something...", he said defensively, "I didn't do anything evil or something, they're just being...weird..."

"Jake...it's creepy to force people together...", Finn whispered back, " _ **You're**_ the one being really weird.."

"I'm not being weird...", he grossed his arms and pouted, "I'm helping..."

"Well, you're helping is kinda weird...", finn watched the two people in front of them laughing and smiling, " They seem ok, without your help..."

Finn noticed jake looking a little sad, he patted his brother's head, " Hey, it's ok, thanks to you, they had a really interesting time together, and we got to hang out with them...look how much fun they're having...".

Jake bit his lip, they actually did look pretty happy just hanging out.

"Finn, did I go too far again?", he asked, slouching on the couch.

"Maybe...", finn said, " Don't feel bad man, I know you were only trying to make them both happy..."

"Yeah...I know...", he said, " I guess I really just thought they'd be happy together like a couple, like me and lady and you with..."

Finn hugged his brother, " It's ok dude, I think if they really want to get together they'll do it on their own..."

"Yeah...maybe...", jake watched the two royals hang out a bit more and got up off the couch, walking towards the couple and tapping on their shoulders, trying to get their attention, "Hey?".

They obviously felt him, but neither responded to him.

"I'm sorry about...messing with you guys like that today...", jake continued anyway, maybe they wouldn't look at them, but they had to hear him. The dog scratched behind his ears, "It was really messed up with me to mess with your relationship..."

Marceline's ear twitched a little.

"I guess you two just seemed like a really happy couple together, and I guess I kinda thought maybe you two liked each other...a little more than friends?", he said, " I'm sorry for embarrassing you guys today..."

Bubba looked behind him and broke the silent treatment, He patted jake on the head.

"It's ok...", he said, " I'm sorry too...", then he glared at marceline, " _**We're**_ sorry..."

"Yeah yeah...whatever...just...just please don't do... _ **that**_ again...", she grumbled, jake poked her, " Do **_what_** marceline?".

"just...that!" She grumbled again, " You setting us up is kinda creepy...".

Bubba laughed, " It was, but...It kinda made today more interesting honestly, did it not?", he elbowed marceline. "I mean, dinner, goofing off, gaming, I think it kinda helped both us us relax a little..."

"Heh...yeah...", marceline said, shrugging, " Us...dating...pft.."

Finn and jake sat next to them, " So...are we allowed to play with you guys now?"

"You guys were already allowed to play, the controllers are sitting right there you noobs...", marceline remarked, pointing to the controllers sitting on the table next to the couch, bubba snickered.

"Oh..."

Jake reached behind them and used his long arms to grab the controllers and put them into he and his brother's hands.

"So did i ever tell you guys bout the time i set up finn and huntress wizard?", jake asked, smiling.

"JAKE!"

It was almost 3 am by the time finn and jake finally left the cave to go to their tree house, along with leftovers from dinner. Maybe because marceline couldn't get them out of her house sooner despite her attempts to scare them away.

Clearly finn wasn't letting his brother panic and run off so soon.

But now they were gone, till next time of course.

The house, was once again, her and bubba's.

She changed her clothes and found bubba brushing his teeth in their bathroom, trying to get every trace of dinner out of his teeth. Marceline leaned on the sink and slashed some water on her face, " Finally good to turn in..."

"Yeah...", he said, spitting into the sink, " Especially for you...must've been quite exhausting, traveling and searching all over the land of Ooo, sorry we kept you up longer, you need the most rest..."

"It's ok, it was nice...hanging out with you and the boys, I've been traveling around Ooo for most of my life honestly, years ago, i decided to travel around the world and explore all over this place...fought lots of monsters, did crazy stuff..."

"Alone?", he asked.

"Well, I made some friends, but yeah...I traveled alone...", she felt her hair, there were knots everywhere, the perks of having her long hair as usual. Sooner or later she was going to have to cut it again, she and bubba had too many mornings stuck together.

Bubba finished and smirked at her, "Y'know..if you need it cut I could probably help...i'm not exactly a professional, but i'm sure i could help you out..."

"Thanks...hey uh...sorry for messing with you earlier, didn't mean for the two of us to...y'know, look weird in front of jake...", then she growled under her breath, "I'm still gonna kill him for creeping around my house..."

Bubba laughed gently, "It's nothing to worry about, I-I uh...I don't really mind... _ **hanging out**_ with you and doing stuff like that...", he felt his face grow red, especially when she laughed back.

"Pfffft, ok, I'll make sure to tackle you often then, I didn't know you were into **_that_**...", she winked, making him blush further. He coughed a bit, and tried to avoid looking at her to avoid further embarrassment.

"Well uh...We outta rest...well _you_ outta rest...", he said, "I-I um...I'll see you in the morning before you leave...", marceline bit her lip, "Sure you sure don't wanna come with me this time? Who knows, we might find the squirt tomorrow..."

"I'm sorry marceline...", he said, calming down, " I-I...just can't...not now...".

She didn't do a very good job of hiding her disappointment, but sighed, " It's ok, i get it, fine...me and bon still have fun together..."

He put his hands on her shoulders, and pulled her into a light hug, " Thanks for understanding, you're a great friend...". He rested his head on her shoulder, "It means so much to me..."

She hugged him back, trying to makes jokes to make this less awkward. "Yeah, well...you seem to mean alot to me these days too...y'know...for a loser..".

He removed himself from her and awkwardly and shyly kissed her cheek, " G'night marceline...tomorrow, er...today is a brand new day, let's just hope things go well for the both of us...".

He paused and bit his lip, "And hey...for the record, I think I understand why jake thinks we make a great pair...we really do make a great team sometimes..",he left the bathroom without another word and plopped on his usual side of the bed.

Leaving marceline to her thoughts, and the mark on her now red face.


	20. So Close And Yet-

Marceline's day was just as boring as usual, or at least as boring as it could get for the vampire queen as she searched the underwater cities in search of a wizard convict. She couldnt contact bonnie down here, so she had to search the place first.

And that got old fast.

Water, water, fish, and more water.

She even bothered to talk to locals and princesses of the nearest kingdoms, and they all seemed blissfully unaware of possible wizards hiding within their kingdoms and/or areas. Then again, the ocean was a pretty big place to search.

Marceline didn't need to breathe, so going underwater was pretty easy for her.

Perhaps that was why bonnie assigned her to check our this area today, save her the trouble of using expensive equipment to allow any of the other recruits to search under the depths of the water.

She was supposed to be focused on hunting down a criminal, but she was mostly thinking about home.

Both finn and jake were once again, babysitting the prince back at her house, and now she wished they has switched places.

Finn didn't fear the ocean anymore, he could probably handle it.

They would probably enjoy hunting this guy more than she did anyway, considering just how many bad guys they took down in the past and how many they take down even today. If this walkie-talkie worked underwater, maybe she'd be arguing this to bonnie right now.

Marceline swore under her breath, bonnie could cure vampirism and create impossible things, but didn't bother to make underwater walkie-talkies.

She just wanted to go home and hang out with bubba again, at least he wouldn't be making her do this. She almost regretted working with bonnie every day she was here, if she didn't remind herself to help bubba.

She wished he came with her this time, some company would be nice down here, and his was usually much appreciated.

She had now entered the mer-people kingdom, and got many strange looks from the crowd, she hissed at them, getting real sick of these kinds of people today. Land creatures didn't always do well down here, but then again, she was also a monster.

She had doubts of any real progress down here, if you've seen one underwater kingdom, you've seen them all, but there was a chance.

Plus bonnie would kill her if she didn't check.

The looks they gave her made her wonder if they had even seen a vampire before, but then again, vampires had really no need to go underwater when their food used to be so easy to hunt on land.

She snarled at them, and asked a few politer locals about the convict, not that they had much useful stuff to say.

"The ocean is a pretty big place missy, I don't think you could find someone like that down here..."

"Really? A doodle wizard? they couldn't draw down here...right?"

"I don't know...wait, a wizard?"

Marceline gave up pretty quickly, there was no point in sticking around down here anymore, she aggressively pulled her hair. She'd been down here for hours, and this was getting her nowhere.

Would bonnie mind if she took a break?

She probably would, but it wasn't the first time marceline had disobeyed her orders, not to mention she could probably handle herself perfectly fine without marceline's help today, it's not like she was her only helper.

she traveled her way back through the water, when she realized she had no idea where she was even going.

How do people traveled through the ocean? Everything looks the same! It's not like they had alot of signs or even really any walkways down here, just alot of buildings, open space, and terrifying creatures.

She almost considered asking for directions, till she remembered their faces when they saw her.

Nah, instinct was better at this rate, she survived an apocalypse, she could track her way outta here right?

She continued in her direction for a little bit more when something grabbed her leg, she hissed, trying to shake them off. It was a long tentacle, trying to pull her down into a nearby cavern.

"UGH,I"M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR THIS!", marceline transformed, arms and body growing 4 times larger than usual, growing claws and a horrifying fish head. She roared at the monster, who continued to attack her with multiple arms.

Marceline grabbed it's arms, ripping some off the body, if anything would get this thing off her back, it would be this. The creatures retreated fast, blood emerging from it, it scatered back into it's cave desperately.

Marceline changed back, huffing at it.

Then she realized something, she floated up and stuck her head out of the water.

Forgetting she had powers that could help her get out, was she losing her touch today?

_

Marceline emerged from the water a few hours later, into a shady spot where she parked her umbrella. She tried to get as much water out of her system as possible, being undead really sucked sometimes.

She took out the walkie talkie, and tried to contact bonnie, might as well tell her her progress, or the lack thereof. The walkie talkie wasn't working, however, and she shook it angrily before throwing it on the ground and sitting on the ground.

Between the lack of progress, isolation, and being homesick, today was driving her nuts.

She hugged her knees, trying to clam herself down, if she broke the walkie talkie, bonnie would kill her for sure.

She took a moment to herself, before she stood up and grabbed all her things. She needed to go home, just for a few hours, bonnie was overworking her too much today, if she could just get home...

Take a nap, get something to eat, see bubba...

She couldn't spend another day like this, not another day...

She tried to get the talkie to work as she made her way home, this thing was in bad shape now, due to the fight she had, probably, making her even more upset. Great, now she couldn't even contact bonnie now if something happened.

Guess she was on her own.

"Ugh, I'm sick of the ocean for awhile...", she kicked the dirt, she was cold, and felt soggy all over.

-

She trudged to the entrance of her cave, "BUBBA! FINN! JAKE! HEY! I'm back..."

There wasn't a response though, she huffed and opened the front door.

She dropped her stuff.

The house was a wreck, furniture flipped over on it's sides, and she could see finn legs sticking out from under the couch, and jakes body twisted and twined through the house. Schwabl cowered under the kitchen table, running to marceline when he saw her.

" _ **What happened here**_!?" she asked, on the verge of exploding.

Finn and jake groaned in pain, trying to recollect themselves.

Marceline looked between the both of them, "Guys...where's bubba?", she asked, heart suddenly dropping in panic. The two boys looked at each other, guilty and terrified, making marceline feel sick.

She pushed them aside and went up the ladder to the upstairs of the house, "Bub?! Bubs?! Hey! Are you here?! Come on out! ", she sniffed the air for him, but found nothing but articles of clothing.

She returned to the living room, growling at her friends, "What... _ **HAPPENED**_?!", the two backed up against the wall in fear of marceline might do in her current state of fury. She felt her fangs grow longer and her face transform to match her rage.

"S-someone came...", jake whimpered out, " I don't know who...t-they...we couldn't see them..."

"They got him marceline..." finn blurted out, " They took him, they must have been here for him..."

Marceline kicked her upside down couch in response, before sinking to the ground, "They took him...you guys were supposed to protect him! You guys were supposed to keep him safe in case this happened! You..."

She felt tears coming on and her face meld back, " He could be freaking dead now...or worse...I-I'm the only friend he has he can count on and now he's off somewhere because of some lunatic..."

"Marceline, we tried, but we couldn't see them, or even grab them... they were pulling some crazy magic on us...!", jake explained, "I lost control of my body, and now i'm all jacked up..."

He showed her the bruises on his body, but she turned away, avoiding him.

"UGh...that's it...i'm gonna kill them...those wizards are freaking dead to me!", she clutched her palms.

"We don't even know if it was the-" finn started.

"I don't care finn...who else could it be!?" She screamed, "Who else would POSSIBLY break into MY house just to kidnap bubba?! He's not exactly crazy-well known! And only few of us know who and what he is!"

"Bu-" Finn started, earning him a growl from marceline.

"No butts, how long has it been, maybe i can catch them...if they aren't far off...", she grabbed her sunhat immediately, debating in her mind if she'd need her axe for this task to give these people what they had coming to them.

"I-I don't know...awhile? ", finn rubbed his forehead, "I-I don't remember how long i was out...my brain is all fuzzy...". Marceline went upstairs and grabbed her axe bass, geez, how long had it been since she needed this thing for fighting?

She was about to head back down the ladder when something shiny caught her eye.

Bubba's crown was under her desk, like it's been tossed on the floor or something. She picked it off carefully, knowing bubba, he'd keep something as valuable as this somewhere safe, and these days it usually was on the top of her desk.

Did it fall off when bubba was taken?

She put it into her coat as soon as she grabbed it, " Don't worry prince, i'm coming to get you...". Bubba was used to being kidnapped, at home it happened on a regular basis, or at least it used to till ice king got bored of writing ice queen kidnapping him.

Even here he got kidnapped, gee, he had to be getting sick of this by now.

Although, with ice queen, he was so much more unlikely to get hurt then by powerful wizards with a grudge against the two of them, and the stuff that went down in wizard city could be really disturbing...

She shuddered.

Ugh, the sooner she found him the better, before they used him as a vessel to summon demons or something.

When finn saw marceline with her axe strapped around her, he walked right in front of her, " Wait, you're not really gonna kill them are you? Call bonnie or something, we could get like...backup..."

"My talkie is broken...", she hissed, "Use my phone or something...now move."

"It broke in the fight...", he mumbled, " But we can't fight them, what if they aren't the guys marceline, what if you kill them for like, no reason?!"

She ignored the question, "Look...i'm going after bubba, are you guys coming or not?! As far as i know he could be dead! I don't have time to sit here and think of anyone else right now, they kidnapped him before so i'm going to find them and teach them a lesson!"

Jake wrapped his arms around marceline's legs, "Marcy, don't go, you're gonna get hurt or start trouble..."

She kicked him off her, "Like i care..."

She left the house without a word.

-

The vampire stood out the entrance of the city, attacking where the door was supposed to be, she couldn't open it like she should, but this outta get someone's attention within the walls of the city.

And sure enough, they doors appeared and opened, angry wizards trying to figure out who was attacking them left in a battle mode.

Marceline had slipped past though, axe in hand, blending in with invisibly. She tracked down the wizard's hideout to find it blocked off for repairs, which mean they probably weren't inside.

In her angry, she made herself visible and kicked the walls, before leaning her forehead against them.

If they weren't here, then where were they exactly? Did they have a new hideout? were they far away from here? Was bubba even with them anymore or did they pass him on to somewhere else by now?

Ugh, if only she ever took the time to learn more about magic.

"Marceline?"

Marceline's racket seemed to caught the attention of someone, causing her to face the sound of the voice.

"Bonnie?" She asked, " Hey...wait...", she removed herself from the wall, "What are you doing here?!"

"I'm allowed within these walls during this hunt silly...", she said, " I think i should be asking you why you're in here, i heard about some invisible wizard attacking the gates, what the heck do you think you're doing here? You had a mission to search the eastern ocean kingdoms..."

"Let's get to the point, bubba's gone bon...", she said, " My house is a freaking wreck and they took him..."

She reached into her pocket and took out the familiar crown, showing it to bonnie, who looked pale.

The princess stepped back, "T-they what? B-but finn, and jake! They were watching him right? H-how?!", she scratched her head in frustration, "No they couldn't have taken him, they're currently being locked up...unless they broke out..."

Marceline handed her the crown, " this was under my freaking desk bon...my room is even wrecked, what else could be happening here?!"

"I-I...hey wait..." Bonnie reached inside the crown, and took a piece of paper, " There's a note in here..."

"There is?", marceline said, embarrassed, "Guess i didn't really see that...". She leaned over the princess to try and get a better look, " Who is it, bubba? Or is this sometone else and stuff?"

"I think it's from his captors...", pb said, shoving the note in marceline's face, "Here...read it for yourself..."

Marceline held the note up to her face, blowing her long hair out of her face in order to read easier. The note had clearly been folded, and had tape from where it was taped on the inside of the crown.

The person who wrote it clearly clearly didn't have very good handwriting, it took marceline a little bit to figure out what was even written on the paper, holding it up to her face and squinting her eyes.

_

 _Marceline,_

 _I really hope you are the one who found this note._

 _I'm so sorry about the house, and bubba, but i need to speak with you, both of you, in private._

 _share this note with no one._

 _Bubba can be found where he always is._

 _Come and find me.  
_

Marceline stuffed the note into her pocket and took the crown from bonnie, " I'll catch you later...", she went right past her friend. Bonnie took her shoulder, "Oh no you aren't, i'm coming with..."

"No...i'm going by myself bon, they want to talk to me...in private, that means you don't come with...", she poked her in the nose, " I'm doing this by myself, i can handle this bon..."

"Marceline, i'll have to call the troops you know...if this ifs from who i think it is, we need to catch them...", she said, " You know that right?"

Marceline brushed her off, " I'm getting bubba back... that's all I care about..."

"Bring him back in one piece ok?", she said, " and please don't hurt them..."

"Yeah...I promise...", she grunted, leaving her friend behind in a flash. She knew where she had to be, she just hoped she made it there soon and before anything bad happened, bonnie was going to have those numnut wizards following her.

She had to go find them before she did.

The forest was always pretty eerie, but especially at night, considering things had a much easier time hiding in the shadows. The sun was finally starting to go down by the time she arrived and she removed her hat.

She started to sniff the air, trying to find her friend within the midist of trees and wildlife.

They had to be in here somewhere, but there was no really telling where they would be in the woods, this place felt endless sometimes, and getting out could take a long period of time without a guide.

Marceline was much better at getting out of the forest then finding her way in.

She wished she had a flashlight on her before she went inside, because it was getting really dark and she could barely see a thing.

She had to rely on her other senses as usual to find her way around, which wasn't a bad thing, but it didn't entirely help when he hair got caught in tree branches or when she hit a tree face first.

Her ears kept perking up however, at the sounds of voices, none familiar.

Bonnie's team must of finally made it, and they were searching the woods too.

She had to find them first, and get them out of here before it was too late, she ducked as a flash of light pointed in her direction. Geez, normally she was way more stealthy than this, she had fallen flat on her face to duck.

She picked herself up, and pilled up her hair in her arms so it would stop trailing behind her.

Occasionally, she'd hear more voices within the woods, making her wonder just how many had followed her in here.

She fell to the ground, breathing heavily, how long had it been by now? An hour?

She could barely see, and she couldn't smell her friend at all.

She had to have been all over the forest by now, and there was squat, guess she must've gone to the wrong location. There couldn't be another solution right? She felt like an idiot, pulling at her hair in frustration.

She held her head in her arms, "Ugh...I-I'm sorry bubs..."

Then she felt something tap her, making her jump back, hissing.

A strange creature was hovering in front of her, something that she didn't recall ever seeing before, a cross between a snake and a skeleton? No, this was far weirder than that, it had wings, and a scorpion tail.

Or at least that was what the silhouette of it seemed to look like.

It looked at her, and beckoned her with it's tail, wanting her to follow.

"Y-you...you want me to follow? Wait, what are you?", she stood up, looking at it from head to toe, it wasn't a very big creature.

The creature look annoyed with her and kept beckoning, flying backwards.

Marceline got herself together and followed it, "Wait, can you even talk? If you're gonna try anything, i'll have you know i'm armed...". She kept up her pace pretty closely, occasionally the creature stopped to hide, and she followed suit.

"Do you belong to the guy who gave me the note? Cause i've never quite seen anything like you before..."She asked, poking it's head, which was hard and skin-less.

"Creepy...", she said.

She followed it to what seemed to be an open clearing within the trees, it was better lighted than the rest of the forest, so she was able to get a better look at the creature she'd been following.

Her guess wasn't that far off.

It was skeletal, making her wonder if this thing was from the nightosphere or undead like her.

It disappeared in what appeared to be thin air, making marceline step back a bit, how was she supposed to follow it now? There was literally nothing here to do, like it put her on some kind of wild goose chase.

Untill the creature stuck his head out, half his body gone, and the other looking at her.

It was like some kind of camouflage, and marceline felt pretty impressed with it, she'd never seen something like this before.

She reached her hand out cautiously, and stuck it inside the camouflage before closing her eyes and sticking her whole body in there. It took her a few seconds to feel comfortable opening her eyes.

"MARCELINE!", she heard a familiar voice and a few seconds before she could react, she was being pulled into a deep hug.

"Bubba?", she asked.

"YES!", he continued to hug her tightly, " Thank god you made it, i wasn't sure jasper was going to get you here safely with all those crazy wizards out looking for this spot..."

"Jasper?", she eyed the strange creature who lead her here, "Wait, did it speak to you? Or-? Cause it didn't explain anything to me about all this and where we are and that you had anything to do with this or-?

Bubba let her go and grasped her shoulders, "Jasper only speaks in Morse code, lord mononchromicorn used to speak it, so i was able to talk to him..."

"So...what's going on here?", she asked, "Are you ok?"

"Marceline, i'm just fine...i'm sorry if you were worried about me, but the kidnapping was the only way this conversation would've been able to happen...", he grabbed her hand, " C'mon, they wanted to meet with the two of us..."

That's when marceline realized that there was a camp set up in this area, with tents and lot's or survival gear, all hidden under a disguise that kept it from being seen without passing through the shield.

"Bubba...wait, you met them...?!", she asked, he was dragging her arm to the biggest tent in the camp, and he seemed rather excited. He looked back at his friend, grin on his face, "Yeah...yeah I did...something wrong?".

"It's just before you...you were upset about them, you freaked out..." She stated, " What changed?"

"I-I well...see for yourself...", she opened the entrance of the tent and let them in, " Hey...she's here, i mean it took awhile...but she finally found us...".

Marceline noticed the tent was much bigger on the inside than the outside, and there was someone sitting in nearby chair who looked up and beamed at the sight of bubba and marceline, standing up to greet them.

"You're a...girl...", marceline said, looking them up and down.

"Is that really that big a surprise?', she replied, she wore glasses, had a long brown ponytail, and had familiar pale skin...

Marceline backed up, "Wait...you're a...a..."

"Vampire? Yeah...sorry if that's a little awkward, I know about your history with the vampires...", she shrugged, " But don't worry ok? I'm perfectly safe, I eat red...like you...don't you think you would've known about me if i was hurting living creatures?".

"So...wait...does that make you-?", marceline looked her up and down.

"Well...i'm a wizard AND a vampire, long story...", she ushered them to sit down, " Here...sit, we have alot to talk about and we better get it out of the way before those guys track down this area and try to break the shield..."

Bubba and her sat down, but marceline continued to stand.

"Can't they just walk in...like we did?", she asked, "Or...did you do something else?"

"I made it open to you guys, if they run into it, it'll be like birds and a glass door...which honestly isn't much better..." She shrugged, " That's why i need to get all of this off my chest to you guys before they find me..."

"Why couldn't you just I don't know...visit our house?" Marceline asked, rather rude, " Instead of taking my friend...?!"

"I'm kinda not exactly well liked to the wizard city, If we were caught together...things might get a little hairy..." She said awkwardly, "Sorry bout that, this was the best idea i could come up with to get you both out here..."

"REALLY?" She growled, she lurked towards her until bubba stood up and got between them.

"Marceline, she needed to get me out of the house and away from finn and jake, if they thought i was kidnapped by some random monster and that you went out and saved me, then jess could get off scot free and get all this info to us at the same time..." he explained.

She growled, "Still sounds dumb to me..."

"Marceline I'm not hurt...and i understand why you're upset, but you've been wanting to find this person for such a long time and now they're finally here, let's not fight...let's all just talk ok?"

Marceline sat down, "Fine...whatever...so...jess?"

The other vampire nodded, "Yeah...?"

"How do you know about him? About bubba?"", she said, " Do you know simon...?"

"I've been around Ooo, and I've heard his stories...and well...i might've snuck into his fionna and cake room once, a few times...", she said guiltily, "Sorry about that...but i was really interested in the stories..."

"And so you brought bubba to life?" Marceline asked, aggressively.

"Well, it was kinda an experiment...see...my powers are kinda...well...when i draw something it comes to life and well...i was trying to see if maybe...", She sighed, "Writers are magic in this world...and I just...I just wanted to help bubba..."

Bubba looked at the ground.

"He was a scrap-goat in simon's stories...I didn't want to see that happen again...so I thought...maybe...I Could re-write the story he was working on...change it to give him a happy ending and well...i was almost caught before i finished the story..."

"And bubba ended up here from your magic...", marceline said.

"Yeah, Yeah...", she said, "I'm sorry..."

"Sorry about what?", bubba said, "I mean...It's not your fault..."

"But it is...you're stuck here...I-I'm not even sure if it could be possible to bring you back, i'm not exactly able to undo any of my magic...never have...I-I'm really not sure how to fix this..." She said.

"You don't need to fix this, you did help me..."", bubba assured, "You did what you set out to do...i am getting a happy ending..."

He took marceline's hand, instantly making her red-faced.

Bubba continued to argue though, " I-I miss home, I really do...i want to see my friends again and be a prince and go back to being who i was before, but don't feel bad about this because being here isn't awful..."

"I found out he was...here when i heard about what you did...", she looked at marceline, "I stay hidden but i always have ears around Ooo, and i needed to speak with you...and tell you everything..."

"You sure you aren't able to help, at all?" Marceline asked again.

"I've never been able to undo anything...unless..."She started, "Unless...i could make you a way home, or at least...wait YEAH! Make your home! DUH!", she dug around the tent, and took out a sketchbook.

"I can't undo anything...but...i can create anything! If i can just...no...this can't be drawn...i need to write...ik's book...!", She looked at them with a grin, " Yes, then i could fix everything...i could do something right..."

Marceline stepped forward, "I'll get that book..."

"I need his newest one, i need to re-write that story...and then i could get it to work again..." She said, "Yes...That's it! Ok, i can't leave...but if you guys can bring me that book...then..."

"Then i could go home..." Bubba finished, glancing at marceline.

"I'll be back soon...", marceline said, already heading out the exit of the tent, " Simon's a friend, he'll let me borrow it..."

Bubba followed after her though, waving at the hybrid wizard on his way out, he grabbed marceline's arm and turned her to face him. " Hey...wait...I-I wanna talk to you...in private..."

She gave him a look, " Bubba...c'mon..not now...the sooner we get this book, the sooner you go home..."

"But you don't want me to go home, do you?" He said, softly, " Not entirely anyways..."

"Look, it doesn't matter what i want, if she can bring you home...then we need to do it...we've been trying to do this since the day we met and we're gonna do it, just like we said we would..." She argued at him, shoulders sagging.

He held her shoulders, trying to comfort her, "It won't be the last time we get to see each other...I'll always come back to see you, and we'll get to hang out...Me going home doesn't change anything..."

"Yeah...it changes a lot...look...i get it, i just...ugh...i'm sick of people leaving me..." She said, "I know we have to do it i just, it was really great having someone around for once and...now you're leaving me too..."

"Not forever...do you really think i'd forget about you and never come back?", he said, arguing back, "Of course i wouldn't ! No, I wouldn't do that to you...you've never given up on me...you took me in! And I could repay you enough for everything that you've done for me...I wouldn't be here without you..."

"Well...you'll get back and get busy with kingdom junk! Just like what happened with me and bonnie!" She growled.

"I'm __ _ **not**_ bonnie...!"

"Well, you're starting to sound like her!"

"Marceline..."

"And what about the whole stupid engagement thing?! You go back, you get married to some random...then you never have time to even visit me!" She was growling on instinct, "I know i have to do this...it's what's best for you...whether it bothers me or not doesn't matter..."

"Yeah it does..." He said, " This involves you just as much as me!"

They were both starting to cry and on instinct, bubba pulled his friend into a hug, digging his face into her shoulder. Her skin was still cold as always but that was the least of his issues, he held her tightly.

"I'm really going to miss you too ok? I'm going to miss having a roommate...having someone bother me, someone to hang out with all the time..." He spoke softly, "But don't lose faith in me now...we're still friends and i promise we will continue to be...even when i'm back home..."

He looked at her, "We'll get to do so much together, you'll get to meet my friends...see my home, we'll go on all kinds of new adventures together, you can even bring the boys and pb too!"

He was attempting to give her a reassuring smile, and in response she tried to stop crying and looking like such an idiot in front of him, she took one of his hands, "Hey...before I head out...there's something I've been wanting to say...to you..."

He blushed, looking at their hands.

She tried to speak, but this was getting awkward, fast.

"Look...I...-" She started, before a booming noise interrupted her talking, causing the two of them to let go of each other and prepare for possible attack. Jess ran out of the tent, panicked, "They found us...we have to hurry up and get out of here...they can't see me with you..."

"Why? Bonnie already knows i'm here...well, not... _ **here**_ here, but she knows i'm probably with you..." She said, "What's the harm?!". Jess growled at her, "You _**TOLD**_ Someone?! UGH! This meeting between us was supposed to be secret...if they know about this meeting they'll freaking do glob knows what to you to get any info they can on me and what's going on ! Last thing i want is you guys in _**their**_ hands..."

Jasper wrapped his long body around his owner's shoulders like a scarf and she aggressively drew in her noteboook.

"You two need to leave...NOW! I've gotta get the heck out of here quickly..."She drew a bag that instantly appeared next to her, it sucked the entirety of the camp setup inside of it, like some kind of black hole. She picked it up and threw it over her shoulder, the royals looked at her in amazement.

"It's magic...", she said, "I have to go...and so do you...we'll see each other again..."

She nodded before turning invisible, hence vampires powers, and was seemingly gone.

The shield was cracking due to spells being cast on it's outside, it seemed like more than one wizard had sound it and were doing some powerful chants to break the shield. Marceline growled, "She couldn't make it unbreakable?!"

"I think even her magic has some limits marceline...c'mon...", he grabbed her wrist, dragging her to another side of the shield and getting them out. Bubba panicked, looking around the area, "Now what?!"

She picked him up bridal style, " Now we get out of here..."

-

When marceline walked through the front door of her home, she found her home completely repaired, as if it had never been blinked repeatably, she couldnt even believe it, how the heck...

jess's work?

Probably.

bubba coughed into his hand, he was still in her arms and she seemed to have forgotten him.

She put him down and caught her breath, " Man...that was...what now?", she asked her friend, unsure of what she needed to do, or even where she needed to be at this point. "I mean...we need that book, but...without jess..."

"We don't have to go now...she said she'll get in contact with us again, right?", he said, "So...let's just lay low for awhile until we get word from her...then we'll decide what we should do next..."

Marceline looked concerned for him, "Hey...you going to be ok?"

""Hmm?"

"You...we were going to bring you home...ugh...", she said, frustrated, "I'm so sorry...ugh, i should've freaking lost those wizard dudes, or found that note without Bonnie seeing it..."

"Don't blame yourself...", bubba patted her shoulders, " you know i don't mind being here a little bit longer...it shouldn't be longer till she gets in contact with us again...", he was trying to look on the bright side of things, his smile was clearly fake though.

"Yeah...whatever... ** _if_** she gets in contact with us again..." she mumbled under her breath, before leaving him alone in the room.

"Wait...marceline, you...you didn't get to tell me what you wanted to say...?", he called to her, but marceline didn't bother to turn back and look at him. She sat in the kitchen table, head in her hands, " It's not like it matters now anyway..."

"But marc-!"

"I said it's not a big deal, forget i said anything!", she said, angrily, making the prince stop speaking.

He looked at her before heading up the ladder to their room, finn and jake must have left to find bonnie, so the home was all theirs once again.

Marceline growled into her hands.

Why did everything have to be so complicated?


	21. The Next Step

Marceline spent the next few days waiting, no more searching with bonnie, no more hunting down wizard convicts.

Instead she spent her days at home, waiting for nay kind of note from the wizard, anything at all, she rarely spoke to bubba except in small, soft talk. His presense made her uncomfortable each and every time he was near her now.

Ugh, she couldn't say anything to him anymore, at least say anything without blushing and stuttering.

What was she supposed to say to him that wouldn't freak him out? Hey, bubba, lately I've been thinking and i think i might like you more than a friend? She already kinda rejected him once, it was possible he might have even lost any feelings he might have even had once for her.

So admitting anything after something like that, well...

Bubba stayed with her in their home, finn and jake were now busy helping bonnie instead. For once, marceline wouldn't have minded those two being in her home, something to ease the tension.

She was beating herself up since the incident, she was at fault for losing this one chance to save bubba, and there was nothing he could do to convince her otherwise. Sure the plan to get them both away from finn and jake and bonnie to talk to her alone wasn't the best, but it was marceline's fault that it had went the way it did.

Bubba would suggest getting the book they needed now, but marceline refused to screw it up, or draw any more attention till they got a new message.

She just stayed in their room, playing the bass sometimes, humming to herself, and staring out the window. Bubba brought her food and tried to keep her company but she kept pushing him out, making him worried about her health.

Despite losing jess, and marceline's behavior, the event made him feel much better.

Everything made sense, and the thought that not only could he go back home, but he could also come here again too, it was an amazing feeling. It would just be so much more amazing if marceline wasn't being as sad and hurt as she was.

It was now the 4th day since the event and bubba went up the ladder carrying a box in his hands, it was wrapped up with ribbon and newspaper, the best he could do in short notice, he went into the room carefully.

"Marceline? Hey, it's me...", he said, marceline was staring at the window, wrapped up in a blanket, sheets were messed up and bass was on the bed next to her. Bubba attempted to sit next to her the best he could.

"Hey...I have a present for you...", he said, holding the box out to her, "It might be slightly big but i spent yesterday making it and i really hope you like it...", marceline slowly took it from him and opened it.

It was a big pink sweater, with a heart and an M on it, it was clearly hand-made.

"Sorry if the color bothers you, but i always thought pink looked great on you...so...i asked bonnie, and she found me some leftover yarn...and i just kinda thought...since it's been getting colder around here..."

"Thanks...", she said.

"You wanna bake? Play some pranks? Read dumb romantic novels together?", he asked, "C'mon marceline, please talk to me, we're friends...you can always talk to me, you don't have to stay up here..."

"It's my fault bubba...", she mumbled, "Leave me alone..."

"It's not...things are looking up, i'll get home eventually, look at my face...i'm not upset with you...", he told her, touching her shoulder, "You can't mope in here forever, even if you are a vampire..."

"Watch me...", she grumbled, blowing more hair out of her face.

"I could help trim your hair? We could go out to eat? Please marceline...talk to me..." He said, other hand laying on top of hers, "I don't like seeing you like this...it's just like...me..."

"Bubba...I don't care ok?", she replied, in a sarcastic tone, "Just leave me alone..."

"Marceline, c'mon...for me?"

"Go...", she growled, frightening him.

He let go of her shoulder and hand and stomped out, leaving the room in a mix of sadness and anger. Ugh, what had he done? Even if jess came here on a silver platter, she still wasn't going to go back to normal.

Her patted schwabl as he put on a sweatshirt on over his shirt and left the house, maybe they needed some time apart, it wasn't like marceline was going to talk to him anyway. Might as well find something else to do...

He found his way into the candy kingdom, it was starting to get dark out, maybe even rain soon. This might not be the same kingdom he ruler for what he thought was years, but he still knew his way round.

He slipped into a bar, maybe not a place he'd go on normal days, but tonight was definitely not a normal day. Nobody really payed him much mind when he walked in, even though he did kinda stand out a little.

He sat at the bar and ordered something to drink, both arms on the table and his head sitting in them sadly.

He felt tired, but not in a sleepy way, his body was tired and he didn't even feel like standing up. In a normal state, he would've thought twice about entering this place, or at least entering it without marceline.

He got his drink and sipped softly, ugh, for once he didn't really care. Maybe he could go to bonnie for help while he was here? Although knowing her, she would tell him that marcy would need space to calm down and relax.

He finished his drink quickly. Ugh, he needed a sign, something, anything, he needed to help his friend. The candy bartender gave him strange looks and walked over to him, "You related to the princess? I don't think I've seen you before..."

"Sorta, but...not...", bubba replied, before asking for another glass, "I used to be somebody once...nowadays...i'm no different than anyone else sitting in here...". He got his drink and took a sip, the bartender looked at him skeptically.

"Why are you in this kinda place? , he asked, cleaning glasses, "Break up or something?"

"Something like that...what makes you think so?", bubba took his head out of his arms and looked up sadly, at least someone was talking to him, that usually made him fell better, even if it wasn't marceline.

"I see people like you come in all the time, you look like a broken heart...", he replied simply, cleaning out glasses now, "Girlfriend? Boyfriend? Were you two together for a pretty long time...?"

"Well, we aren't really _**dating**_...we just...we hang out..a lot.." He tried to explain, "She's just really upset and i can't seem to cheer her up, just like how i was once...I don't know what to do..."

"Do you like her?" The man asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Wh-what?", bubba said, turning red, "I-I mean...well...of course I like her, w'we're friends! We both really do care about each other, and we protect each other, and we help each other...dispite what happens..."

"You know that's not what i mean..."He replied.

"Well...I, I mean...I _ **Did**_ really like her...It's just..." He explained.

"You don't now?"

"What?! No of course I still do! I-I...", he sunk back onto the stood in embarrassment, "I-I...still like her...". He rubbed the front of his head, "Look I just...I want her to be happy again...that's all I want..."

"Then why are you here?", he asked, "Look, I don't know what you two have been through...but if she means this much to you, you should be with her right now instead of a place like this...", he finished cleaning his glasses and put them back.

"She doesn't want to see me..." He argued, "Why do you think i'm here alone? I don't think me bugging her is going to help...she needs time, as far away from me as possible...", he stopped looking at the bartender, trying to end this conversation as soon as possible.

And sure enough another customer came in and he left him alone.

Bubba was there for what he assumed was about half an hour before a girl sat next to him and ordered herself a drink, she looked at him as he pitifully moped on the table. "Hey...what's wrong with you man?"

What was it with people and his personal business? He just wanted to be left alone.

He looked up at the girl, a candy citizen, she looked at him with a grin. "You here alone too? It's cool cutie, you have nothing to be ashamed of...", she received her drink and he looked at her, confused and rather dazed.

"Well...I..." He started, "Ugh...f-forget it..."

"Well, I haven't seen you around the kingdom...tell me a little about yourself?", she said, winking at him.

He blinked at her, was she flirting with him?

Nonetheless, it was still someone to talk to for the time being to get his mind off his troubles, so he chatted with her, trying his best to lie through his teeth about himself. Not revealing anything particularity...important.

And what happened next went by much too fast for him.

He was being pushed against a wall behind the bar, and she was much too close to his face to make him feel comfortable. His vision felt blurry, and then he remembered he had bought him his last drink.

"Y-You...", he slunk back against the wall, unable to think properly.

"Drugged ya?", She answered, "Man, you finally got me...you are much more clever than you look...". She took a small dagger from her purse, "Now just relax...the two of us are going somewhere together...".

"N-no...i-i'm not going anywhere with you..." He couldn't focus, but he still attempted to try to disarm her. She pushed him back and off of her, " Stop struggling...you don't want to ruin that pretty face do you...? "

Bubba fell to the ground, he couldn't get himself to stand, then he felt himself bleeding from one of his hands, his attempt to disarm her caused him to cut him hand, ugh, this wasn't good.

She pinned him down successfully, making it even harder for him to fight back. He felt himself slowly slipping away, his viosn was blurry and his mind extremely fuzzy, he was done...it was over.

He blacked out.

The girl smirked and started to search him, until something grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground. A figure with long dark hair growled at her deeply, and judging by her glowing eyes and horrifying face, she wasn't someone to challenge.

But instead of trying to kill her, they went straight to the limp body on the ground and tried to wake him up.

"Bubba...oh god...c'mon...wake up...", she scanned him over, he was still breathing, good. But she could still smell the blood coming from his hand, she was relieved he was cut anywhere more vital, but still very much angry.

"Ugh...i'm so sorry...I-I should've been a better friend, shouldn't have let you go off alone...", she held him in her arms, "It's ok...i'll get you home, we'll fix you up...you'll be alright...", she was rambling to herself, trying to reassure herself.

It took every once of will not to drink from him, the smell of blood was always too tempting to vampires.

That's when she felt someone stab her back, causing her to drop him. She stood up, healing abilities pulled the knife out of her back and healed up the wound instantly, it frightened the candy woman, she stepped back.

Marceline lurked towards her, she pushed her down on the ground. "I'M SO _**SICK**_ OF PEOPLE HURTING EVERYONE I FREAKING CARE ABOUT! Bonnie, finn, jake, my mom,...simon...", she said sadly. Then she got angry again and exposed her teeth, "EVER SINCE HE GOT HERE EVERYONE'S DONE NOTING BUT HARM HIM AND I'M SICK OF IT! " . The candy woman backed off, "Y-you his girlfriend?".

Marceline paused suddenly.

"What?"

"The girl...he kept talking about a girl...a-a tough girl...are you her?!", she demanded.

Marceline snarled, "Why do you care?!"

"H-he did nothing but talk about you...", she said, "W-when we spoke...". Marceline aggressively threw her over to where bubba was at, completely avoiding the question, "What where you going to do to him? Steal? Kidnap? Something Else?"

She didn't reply, but instead found her way back to her knife quickly, holding it out to defend her.

"What does it matter to you? you didn't care about him...at least i talked to him...at least i made an effort" She said, then marceline immediately realized her biggest mistake when the woman made her way back to bubba, knife in hand.

If she wasn't so panicked right now, she'd be furious with herself.

"You can't even defend him properly, letting me this close...that's cute...now i have the upper hand...", she held the knife up to his neck, "He means alot to you huh? Well, then how bout you let me go and he won't get hurt...?"

Marceline backed off, " Fine...but if you do anything to him...you'll never use that arm again"

She walked past her, keeping bubba close, marceline watching her the entire time. When she was almost free of the vampire's grasp, marceline called out to her, "Now drop him...and get out of my sight...".

She smirked before moving her knife away from his throat, and instead cutting his chest before dropping him and making a run for it. Causing marceline to rush forward after her, but she disappeared, without a trace.

Marceline turned her attention back to bubba, who was now bleeding from the chest.

She picked him up, she had to get him home and clean him up right away, the girl must've wanted to get one hit in to get revenge on her, but it wasn't vital in the slightest. But then again, maybe she knew what marceline was...

Bubba awoke to find himself bandaged up, and hungover.

He felt sick, and he couldn't remember why, he felt the sheets around him with the hand that wasn't injured, he was in a bed. He blinked a few times, his vision was slightly blurry and he couldn't tell where he was.

"Bubba?! Ugh...finally..you're awake..."

A familiar figure loomed over him, and he smiled.

"Heh...bet bonnie didn't get into this much trouble when you too had fights...", he chuckled, oddly.

"Oh, you never know with bonnibel honestly...", she gave a meek smile, " How are you feeling? You were sorta out for awhile...but at least you didn't freak out when i had to play doctor on you...", she joked.

"Well, i'm starting to see properly again..." He started, "Why am i aching?"

"Well, it could be for a number of reasons, but you did get cut up a bit..." She said simply, " Luckily she didn't get you anywhere horribly, but then again, i think she was really bad with using a knife..."

He looked down at himself, realizing he wasn't wearing a shirt anymore, and had bandaged wrapped around him.

"Yeah...sorry bout that, you sorta bled through your shirt...i had to remove it...", she said, "But i cleaned you up...i had to treat myself for wounds and cuts all the time before i was a vampire...".

He sighed, "I'm sorry...I must've really freaked you out...", he felt his forehead, he felt hot all over. "I shouldnt have gone running off out there...and to a bar no less...i'm really sorry marceline..."

She huffed, "Well, it's not like you could've known that that chick was crazy...but even you should know by now that the candy kingdom is not as safe as it looks...", she bit her lip, "They may be made of sugar, but they all aren't sweet as sugar..."

"Heh...guess not...", he looked at her, "How did you find me...?"

"I came down to apologize...and you were gone...so...i put on your sweater and went looking...", she shrugged, and for the first time he realized she was wearing the sweater he presented to her earlier.

"And?"

"Well...i went to the kingdom to ask bonnie if she'd seen you and well...the scent of your blood is getting way too common for me...", she looked at his injured hand, "As bad as it hurts, it did help me stop her from doing anything worse..."

"I was being an idiot...", he said, "I shouldn't have left...not to drink, not to do anything..."

"No bubs...I snapped at you...you were trying to help...I-I've just been so...ugh...", she crossed her legs on the bed, "Look, you were only trying to help...i shouldn't have snapped at you so much...ok? I was just so upset because I ruined everything and I was such a failure to you..."

"You know that's not true...I mean...look at this, you saved me! Well, saved most of me...", he reached out and grabbed her hand, "You are no failure marceline, far from it...you did good...really good...".

"Yeah...well, finding you unconscious, and bleeding wasn't exactly a happy sight...", she said, " if i didn't know any better...I could've easily thought she had killed you or something and then i might've done some things i would regret quickly after..."

"Unconscious and bleeding..?", he said, "Heh...just like how we met..."

"Yeah..."

He bit his lip, "Hey uh marceline?...do you wanna...talk?".

She gave him a look, "Talk? About what exactly ?".

"About...things...important things I think we both need to talk about..." he started, blushing, "Marceline...you wanted to say something to me...before everything fell apart...why won't you tell me it now...?"

She twisted her hair in her hands, "Look...after everything...it wasn't a good time to say it...it really wasn't...everything had gone totally wrong.", she hugged her arms, "Look, it's not that big a deal...don't worry about me..."

"You know i can't do that...i always worry about you...why do you think i spent so much time taking care of you these last few days?", she sighed, "You know how much you mean to me...you help me, and I help you...we're a team..."

"Yeah...but..."

"Look, it's ok if you don't wanna say it...it's just...I want you to know that you can trust me...", he bit his lip, "Which exactly why I have something I need to say to you...and I hope you won't get freaked out by it...or anything..."

She blinked at him in confusion, "Uh...yeah...what's up?"

"Listen...I...I like you...I-I mean...well, I _**Still**_ like you..." He stuttered, not really looking at her, "And I just...I-I just...I know you don't feel the same way anymore...and I get it...I don't want to ruin our friendship..."

Marceline suddenly put her hand over his mouth, " It's ok..."

He calmed down.

"Bubs...look I...when this all is over...I want to see you again...", She said, "I want us to continue hanging out together and doing stupid stuff...and acting like the outcasts we are..."

She bit her lip, "And...I kinda sorta maybe...like you too...sorta...", she twisted her hair in her hands, feeling sick to her stomach, it didn't get more awkward than this. "Sorry if i'm being weird..."

He removed her hand, " Wait...you do?!"

"Well, what do you expect when you keep being so nice and kissing my cheek...and...being so supportive...", she trailed off, "Look...I guess I just didn't want to say anything because you might freak out or get upset..."

He smiled fondly, "Heh...sorry...awww, i wouldn't get upset...it's kinda cool to be crushed on by someone...well it also happened with fionna but that changed alot after that one ice queen incident...", he rubbed the back of his head, " You don't need to freak out...i-it's ok..."

that got a laugh out of marceline, "You must mean that weird one where you got iced on the ceiling? Yeah i bet that must've been pretty uncomfortable...but i know simon was really proud of that story...".

Bubba pouted, "Pfffftt, still sucked for me though...i really liked her..."

She ruffled his hair, "Eh...don't be sad...now you have me, which is probably way cooler, right?", she joked, he removed her hand from him and gave her an embarrassed look, "Wait...does that mean...are we dating now? I-I mean, w-we may have gotten it all out there...but i didn't think y-you wanted to-...you know..."

"Well, I mean...we don't have to be if you still feel uncomfortable about this...", she scratched her head, " I mean it is still kinda weird...and i'm not exactly great with relationships...considering how many got butched...", she mumbled.

"We could try?" He said, " If you want to...and just see? And if there's nothing we just...go back to being friends?"

She looked at him, "Ok...t-that...sounds cool...", she moved hair out of her face, "You uh...you took that better than i thought...I kinda thought you might you know...freak out or get upset or something..."

"No...", he said, " I think I always kinda knew...", he said, making a face.

"Don't you dare tease me about it..." She said, "It's freaking rare I end up crushing on people...and...ugh...", she face palmed herself, "This is so weird...I can't believe we just...ugh...this..."

He laughed lightly, "It kinda feels good to let it all out though..."

"Yeah...I guess it kinda does...", she said, " I mean...i guess it's kinda good to have it all out in the open...instead of us...y'know...hiding it from each other...", she said, biting her lip, "So...uh...what now?"

He sighed, "Well...we could...do something together? Maybe...i mean, if you don't want me to move then we could always just read and hang out in here...if you're ok with doing that or something..."

"Yeah...that sounds nice...especially after everything that's been happening...", she said, giving him a meek smile, "But don't think if you fall asleep again, I won't draw on you're face...", she teased.

"Awwww...marceline, but i'm injured, you wouldn't do that to me would you?", he joked back, making a fake pout and puppy dog eyes at her, causing them both to laugh at the ridiculousness of the scenario.

"I may be your girlfriend now, but that doesn't change how much i'm gonna mess with you...", she said, winking, "Oh and uh...thanks...for the sweater...i mean, you sorta bled all over it...but..."

"Anytime...", he laid down on the bed, trying to get comfortable.

Marceline laid down on the bed next to him, she brought up some magazines and books, and even a music player and headphones so they could listen together. Anything to help cure his boredom, he wasn't seriously injured, but it would still be painful to stand up and walk at the moment.

She'd probably have to take him to bonnie in the morning, just to check on him.

Bubba was breathing fine though, the most her really got was a few medium cuts, which might have been so much worse if he was human. When marceline had cleaned him up, careful to not trigger her vampire self into drinking, she tried to smooth out the skin into sticking together again.

She wasn't sure if it was successful though, did candy people regenerate cells like humans? Maybe?

Bubba ate some food that marceline had gotten him earlier, trying to regain some strength, marceline had gotten him a new shirt to put on, he happily munched an apple as she left and changed in the bathroom.

She then sat back down next to him and grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers.

Bubba turned red, looking at their hands, "Heh...I haven't been in a relationship in a long time...this will uh...this'll take some getting used to...", then he leaned over and kissed her forehead, "And you'll have to get used to those..."

She hit his shoulder gently, "You're a dork..."

"Yeah? Well congrats, i'm your dork now...and you're stuck with me...", he teased, "Like it or not...". She put an ear bud in his ear and one in hers, "We have tons of old human music you might like...we can jam and biz..."

He squeezed her hand, and attempted to lean his head on her shoulder, she put her head ontop of his.

"Never go running off again ok?", she told him, "You freaked me out more than you know, it was already scary enough having you kidnapped, or having you almost dead, geez...who knows what could have happened if that girl had her way tonight..."

"Yeah...i'm sorry, I-I was kinda under the influence...I shouldn't have been talking to her...", she admitted, "I was so vulnerable...i was just too easy for her to get a hold of...all because I was so upset..."

"Well, hey, you aren't dead...", she kissed his cheek, "But try to not get caught or hurt next time, i'm gonna need to make a tally for every time i save you at this rate...you can't be enjoying it very much..."

"Nah but...it does bring back alot of memories from home...", he sighed.

"They can't have been very great memories though...", she bit her lip, " I'm not gonna let you get kidnapped again bubs...you've suffered enough in your time here...this isn't gonna happen again..."

"And you'e gonna make sure of that i assume?", he said, " How do you plan on doing that?"

She looked at her axe bass leaning against the wall, "Nothing in particular, and it'll stay that way as long as things don't end up worse...". She looked at his injuries, " I'm sorry you got hurt..."

"Well...I'm not dead, or worse...because of you..."He told her, " some small cuts and injuries are nothing compared to what could've happened...thank goodness for your powers huh? You probably freaked her out..."

"Well, I can heal myself...so she couldn't exactly take me out, but she did get her hands of your because of my stupidity, i should've just picked you up and left her sad butt in the mud..."

"Did you kill her?", he asked, slightly unnerved.

"Dude...no, she got away...", she said, "And if she's smart, she'll leave and get as far away as she possibly can from me...", a new song can on, somthing much softer and less aggressive than the last song.

She felt drowsy, she didn't realize how exhausted she was today.

"I'll make it up to you tomorrow...ok?" She told him softly, squeezing his hand, "I'll make up for everything, me being a wad, you getting hurt, losing your only way home...i'll fix everything..."

"You can't fix everything marcy...some things you can't help...", he told her, " It's just how things work...as much as i hate to say it...". He smiled at her though, "But thank you for caring about me so much though..."

"It's kinda my job nowadays..." She joked, "I'm bubba-sitting..."

"Very funny...i'm glad you're enjoying this...", he teased back, " But hey...it's almost like having servants back home so you know what, babysit me all you want...i can live with it...", he grinned, winking at her.

"Oh...shut it...you know i have to..."

"I know..."

Marceline opened her eyes, rubbing them and checking the clock, it was after midnight. Bubba was still clinging to her, they must have passed out during their reading together, she yawned, and the body next to hers snapped open it's eyes as well.

"M-Marceline?!", he yawned, "Go back to bed..."

He reached up to hold her shoulder, face still buried in his pillow.

She huffed, holding her head, " Ugh...what the heck?! I need to get back to sleep...stupid brain...". He sat up next to her and hugged her, " You having nightmares again? It's ok...I have them all the time..."

"No...I guess i'm just stressed...can't sleep as well..." She sighed, rubbing her face.

"I'll stay up with you if you want?", he said, "I don't need to sleep...we could just stay in bed all day if you want...". Then he gave her a smirk, "Or we could both cuddle ourselves to sleep...if that's cool with you?"

She playfully put her hand on his face, "Ugh...I can't sleep tonight bubs...how are you feeling? How's your hand, and chest and stuff?", she grabbed his injured hand and held it out in front of her.

"I'm fine...don't worry so much...it's practically a paper cut..." He replied, " I'll be just fine...c'mon...we both need to get some rest for today...remember...you promised me a nice normal day..."

"Bubba...our "Normal" days...lead to stuff like this!", she said, Then she looked around the room suddenly, and saw something on her desk, she summoned it over, a small skull with writing on the bottom.

Bubba looked at her, "What's wrong?

"This...this is a message sending thingamajig, it wasn't here before we went to bed...", she read what was written and her eyes grew wide, she didn't say anything, unsure of what to say first.

"Who is it from?", bubba asked, interrupting her silence.

"Jess..." she whispered, " She's in hiding..."

Bubba couldn't hide the disappointment in his face as his smile faded from the news, "Well, she's not caught...that's a good sign...but...i guess this means she can't come back to us...", but marceline put her hand over his mouth now, "That's not all...she needs us to help..."

"How?"

"We need to stop bonnie's search for her...find some way to stop those wizard armies and devices from searching for her, that biz...cause if they find her, it's over...", she bit her lip, "Ugh...but bonnie will be so pissed though, she's doing this to make up for what we did..."

"Us?...take down someone as powerful as her? Is she nuts?"

"A vampire-wizard with magic drawing abilities? Nah, i'm sure she's pretty much sane...", marceline joked, before toning down into something more serious, "But...how? this wouldn't be an easy job to ask anyone to do..."

Then she looked at his bandages, and gave a knowing smirk.

"But i think i might have an idea of how we're going to get to talk to bon..."

"Then i suppose we'll need to figure it together then...if it's my only way of getting home..." He said, "Guess it's back to us against the world again huh?", before hitting her on the shoulder, "You up for some new adventure?"

She pouted, before grabbing his shirt and finally pulling him into deep kiss.

"Shut up..."


	22. The Plot

"Remember...be careful...and pretend it's worse than it really is...", marceline told her boyfriend, "We need to keep bonnie distracted...".

"Marceline, don't worry...I know the plan..." He reassured her, "Just be careful...you have no idea what you might be getting into, those wizards could take you down if you aren't being careful..."

"Careful is my middle name princey...i'll be just fine...i'm kinda immortal, let's just get this done for jess...", she told him, as he pretended to limp a little as they approached the castle gates.

"I hope you know what you're doing...", he whispered to us, "Cause if we get caught...bonnie's gonna kill us both..."

"Just relax and look like you're in pain..." She whispered back.

Bonnie came running out soon enough, looking panicked and also somewhat irritated, "What happened?!". Bubba had his arm around marceline, as if he couldn't walk, and tried his hardest to make noises of pain.

If this wasn't convincing, they were so dead.

"Bubba...ended up in a fight...", marceline lied through her teeth, "They stabbed him, he needs your help bon...". Usually bonnie was pretty good at telling when marceline was lying, but she wasn't _**entirely**_ lying...

Some truth to it might make it seem more real.

Bonnie was much too panicked about bubba's bandaged self to be suspicious though, he didn't look well. She immediately got some some servants to help him to the hospital wing, marceline following behind and carefully looking around the castle as she followed .

Bonnie turned back to look at her, "You bandaged him up? Why didn't you go straight to me?!"

"Well...he's MY roommate isn't he?! Shouldn't i at least TRY to help him first?!", it was the first excuse that came to her mind. Bonnie didn't question her further about it, "I'm starting to question having you live with him...he's getting seriously hurt being in your care..."

"You act like i'm taking care of a baby, bubba can take care of himself...", she argued, "He got hurt bonnie...and i helped him...now you gotta do something...it's not like I know how you gummy people work..."

Bonnie huffed, "It didn't seem like he was hurt too bad, but when I get back...I'm gonna think about having him live with me again...", she gave marceline a look before stomping off into another room, leaving marceline alone.

It's time.

She turned invisible, she had quite a bit of searching to do to sabotage the hunt, finding the communicators bonnie was using, calling off the armies, and then finding a way to appease the grand master wizard.

Which is exactly why she asked finn and jake to do her a small favor for her this morning, without giving them the full details of what the purpose of their job was. They were very reluctant to do it, but when she said it would get them off "Hunting Duty" for bonnie, and promise them a reward, they took the job.

She found herself sneaking into many rooms, many that were far from helpful.

And it certainty didn't help that a lot of other rooms were completely and totally locked, keeping her from entering them in a silent, sneaky, manner.

This was a castle full of candy people , citizens, and workers buzzing around all the time. She couldn't help but get frustrated and grunt, she only had so much time to get any of this done and she was wasting so much precious time.

Then she heard some static voices coming from behind a door.

She approached it, pressing her ears against the door, this had to be the control room, right?

Well, it was something, she had to try something now.

Then a miracle happened, a small candy citizen opened the door from the other side, and in a flash, she zoomed in before he closed the door behind him. Marceline found herself in a dark room, full of dismantled screens, probably what bonnie used to spy on people.

but on a large desk, was a transmitter and some walkie talkies.

"Jackpot...", she said, grabbing one of the walkie talkie's.

Now she just needed to get to work.

Bonnie looked at bubba, arms crossed as he laid down in the hospital wing.

He gave her a weird smile, she didn't look happy with him in the slightest.

"What?", he asked, sitting up "Is everything ok?"

"No, besides the fact that these cuts are clearly not as bad as you made them out to be when you arrived here, that the blood on those bandaged have already _**dried**_ blood on them, and the fact that this adds to a list of times you've been in danger in marceline's care...no...everything is _**not**_ ok...", she gave him a stern look, making him sink back on the mattress, and gulp a little.

"You were injured yesterday, weren't you? Not now, not just a few hours ago, you were hurt yesterday and just now you both came to me...those cuts were not as bad as they could have been, the chest one was not deep enough for anything too vital, and therefore it was easy to fix...", she said, "What's going on? I didn't take you for a liar, you and marceline both clearly didn't tell me the truth earlier..."

He calmed down, " No, we were telling the trut-", bonnie put a hand out to stop him.

"Nevermind...it's not as important as what i'm about to say next, I know marceline found them, the convict wizard...and I know she had you kidnapped...are you willing to tell me what happened?", she crossed her arms, "Marceline won't tell me, her best friend, but if they really kidnapped you...then what happened? Did you see where they went? Did they do anything to you?"

Bubba bit his tongue, " I was um...unconscious...I don't know...they knocked me out, marceline had saved me by the time I woke up..."

She clearly didn't buy it, " Fine, side with her..."

Then she sat down on the edge of the bed, "I'm also gonna move you back to the castle with me...", she said, in a serious, yet saddened tone. "I know you two are...close...but whether these injuries were a day or an hour ago, you keep getting injured and almost killed..."

His eyebrows furrowed, "Yeah...but i'm fine, i'm not dead yet...you can't just _**force**_ me to live with you again...!" .

"I have to do something...", she told him, " If i don't, this will continue to happen...you might end up dead, marceline can't continue to save you for the rest of your life...she may be immortal, but she's not invisible..."

"I was attacked in _ **your**_ kingdom bonnie!", he argued to her, " I am **_not_** safe here...it wouldn't matter how many guards you have tag me all the time or even if you locked me in a room, trouble finds me no matter what...and i'd rather have my friend at my side when it does..."

"You were written to be based on me!", she was getting upset all of a sudden, " How could you possible want this?!"

"Because I am based on you...", he said, " You and marceline were also close, and you've always had each other's backs, why shouldn't I do the same? Maybe being with marceline hasn't had the best influence on me, and maybe I've done things i'd never do if i wasn't living with her...but you and I both know she's a good person at heart and that i'll be just fine..."

"No, no we don't...if you ended up...y'know, she'd never forgive herself...she's spent her whole life losing people she cared about...we don't need you added to that list, please think about this, not for just your sake, but hers...", she stood up and walked out of the room.

Bubba fell back against the sheet, he felt out of breath and tired, despite barely moving.

Then his eyes snapped open as he realized he was no longer distracting bonnie.

"Marceline!"

He said up again in panic, did she have enough time, did she run out?!

He had to go find her, before bonnie caught her red handed and-

"Yo..."

Marceline appeared visible above him, smiling ear to ear, before she sat down next to him.

"Looks like she fixed you up alright...at least you're easier to fix up then humans, when I was still mortal and powerless, fixing myself up from wounds like that was a pain, physically and literally...", she playfully hit his shoulder.

"I heard what you said..." She bit her bottom lip, "Thanks...that meant a lot to me..."

"Well, I was only stating the facts...", he said, blushing, "Besides...If i ended up here anyway, we both know you'll sneak in and get me out somehow...". Considering the grin on her face, he wasn't wrong.

"Did you do it?", he asked, "Was it hard?"

"Dude, i did just fine...communicator...sabotaged...and i used those talkies to get the wizards to go back to the city, told em we found the convict there and we needed backup...", she snickered, "Ugh It took forever though..."

"When will bonnie notice...you think?"

"Soon, which is why we're heading out...now...", she picked him up, "Don't worry, i'm gonna drop you off home...we need to wait for phase two to come into action soon anyway...c'mon..."

She left just as she heard an angry scream come from the castle.

Marcy and bubba hid under the covers of the bed, almost like two children who pulled a prank on their parents.

They held hands and mumbled under their breath.

"She's gonna find out it was us..." Bubba whispered.

"Yeah, but when we get her off the hook, it won't even matter...", marceline whispered back.

"Marceline, if this plan doesn't work..."

"It'll work, we'll be just fine..."

Bubba took the sheet off them, "We didn't think this through...did we? It's not gonna work and we're gonna get caught, and so is jess...and.."

she put a hand over his mouth, "Calm down...we're not dead yet..."

Then she heard her doorbell go off, "Good...they're here...phase two is ready to begin...", she got up off the bed and went down the ladder to greet a teen and his his dog, both finn and Jake gave her odd looks while giving her a large bag, a moving one.

"Thanks you guys..." She grinned at them, their faces still confused.

"I don't see why you couldn't pick them up yourself?", jake asked, shrugging, "I mean, if grand master wizard wanted you to take care of them for awhile why couldn't you just go to the city an-"

Marceline shushed him, "Nah, this was easier...bye guys! Thanks for helping!"

She slammed the door in their face, and dropped the bag on the couch.

The bag opened and over a dozen cats stepped out, marceline had put schwabl upstairs with bubba, and for good reason. She counted them, just to make sure all of them were there, she couldn't lose one.

Bubba came down shortly afterwards.

"We're really doing this huh?", he asked her, shaking his head.

"There is no turning back now...", she mumbled, "When he finds out his cats are missing, we tell him we can find and bring them to him if he let's bonnie off the hook, guy is obsessed with cats, he'll do it..."

"Yeah but...", she walked up to him and took his shoulders, "We'll be fine...everything will be just fine...", she bumped their foreheads together playfully, "Just calm down...we aren't in trouble just yet..."

He breathed in and out, until he relaxed and rested his forehead on hers.

"I'm sorry...your partner in crime is kinda losing his cool right now...", he looked at her guiltily, "I'm just so worried about what'll happen if this doesn't work, we're both gonna be in so much trouble, bonnie will separate us for sure..."

They disconnected heads, and the vampire queen gave him a look.

"Does she know yet? I mean...it only started last night but...did you tell her?", she felt the back of her neck in an awkward manner, "She'd uh...probably tease me if she found out...she'd make a lot of jokes about setting us up or us dating and stuff..."

"No...", he said plainly, "It's just between the two of us for now..."

"Ok, that's cool...we can uh...tell them later...", she picked up a cat off the floor and begun petting it as it purred in her arms, "I can't believe she threatened to separate us though...i mean, like she has control over us..."

He sighed, plopping down on the hard couch, "She might end up doing so...whether we want it or not...I don't think our relationship would change her mind on the matter, she's too worried about what might happen...". He looked at the spots where he was injured, and the leg bonnie had to fix, "She isn't wrong however...i'm lucky to have been through what i have with you..."

"C'mon bubba...don't tell me you agree with her..." She said, sour faced.

"I don't, you heard what i said to her face back there...but she isn't wrong, about me getting hurt, or you losing so many people...", he frowned, "She wants to try to do what's best for both of us..."

"Yeah...well, her vision and mine are very different things...", marceline mumbled.

"Yeah...I hope the two of you can figure out something soon, or at least convince her to let me stay here...", marceline put down the cat and sat down next to him, they took each other's hands and grasped them tightly.

"We'll figure something out...we always do...no matter how stupid it is..." She spoke softly, "But hey...if she does separate us...don't think i won't sneak into your bedroom and mess with ya..."

He grinned, "I have no doubts...", he looked around the room at the many cats running around, "So how exactly are we gonna feed all these guys, you have a dog marceline...how are we gonna raise cats?"

"We aren't keeping them long...", she drawled.

"Yeah, but...while they're here we are responsible for them, the grand master would be so upset if we hurt one of them...and we need this to work...plus...i haven't seen a cat in a long time...", he reached down to pet one of them.

It purred against his hand and licked him.

"We need to give them all some food, maybe you should head out and get some cat food for all these little guys?", he gave her a look that seemed to beg her, she huffed and looked away from him.

"Ugh fine...but don't get kidnapped while i'm gone ok?", she teased, "I don't wanna save your butt again tonight...", she grinned and planted a small kiss on his forehead, "Just keep them here till i get back..."

"Aye aye captain...", a cat plopped into his lap, "Can do..."

Marceline came out of the store, carrying way more than she wanted to carry, she had to shapeshift a little just to handle all the bags on her way back home, her eyes traveled around, worried someone might attack her or accuse her.

Her ears perked up at the conversations taking place, about families, dates, ramblings of gossip.

But one almost made her drop her bags.

"The grand master wizards's cats disappeared! How does that just happen!?"

"I thought he kept him in his beard?"

"Well, he couldn't find any of them, all of them...gone...!"

"Is he out looking for them?"

"No, he thinks they were kidnapped..."

She stiffened, making her way home as quickly as possible.

He knew...she had to get home and let bubba know about this right away, then they could get ready for the next part of the plan.

"-And what about finn and jake?" Bubba asked her, "What if they rat us out?! Oh glob...we really have no idea what we're doing!"

"Relax bubs...i'll call them and tell them to keep quiet about this...they won't snitch ok? They wouldn't want to get us in any more trouble...besides they technically kidnapped the cats...I don't think they'd want to get in trouble either..."

"We're endangering them...", he held his head, panicking.

"Bubba...it's ok, it's ok...", she tried to reach out to comfort him, but it wasn't working.

"Marcy...i'm scared...ugh, we're so dead...", he said, breathing heavily. He'd never freaked out this much in his life, he thought that any moment now bonnie, or the grand master, or someone was just gonna burst through that door and it would all be over.

"The plan sounded so much better when they went over it in their head.

But now...

Marceline took the call in the kitchen, and trying to convince the boys to lie about those cats was much harder than she thought, as jake seemed to wonder just what the heck she was going to do (Perhaps he though she'd eat them), and finn sounded just as distressed as bubba, considering he broke a hero's honor kidnapping a bunch of animals and giving them to a potential deadly creature.

"Look, it's important, he can't know we have them..." She grumbled, "Besides...i'll give them back, just as long as things go right..."

"What you planning marcy?! " Jake demanded, "You're acting all lumping crazy!"

"I'm sorry guys, but trust me...we'll be just fine ok? Just keep it quiet...please? I'll owe you guys big time!", she didn't want to resort to begging, but she had to do something, and threatening them probably wouldn't end well.

"Fine...we'll keep quiet...but first...did you almost wreck bonnie's stuff?"

"Uhhhhhh...maybe, look just say nothing about it ok?!" She growled into the phone, "Trust me ok?"

"You better have a good reason for this marceline, me and finn have been to wizard prison before...it wasn't exactly alot of fun..." Jake said, "We almost got killed and stuff...those people are mad crazy..."

"I know I know...just stay low for awhile, he'll get the cats back and everything'll be just fine..." She reassured them, " I gotta go, i'll call you guys back later ok?". Jake grunted and then calmed down, "Fine...tell bubba we said hi..."

She hung up, and breathed a sigh of relief when the phone rang again, startling her.

She picked it up slowly and put it to her ear again.

"Hello?"

"Marceline, would you kindly explain to me what you think you're doing?", it was bonnie, no doubt. She didn't sound like she was angry, but marceline could tell she was furious, oh boy...

"Oh...uh...hey bonnibel..." Was all she could manage.

"Marceline, I know it was you, don't deny it. What in glob's name are you doing?" She asked, " You're ruining everything we've worked hard to fix, are you trying to get us all in hotter water than before?"

"Bonnie, look...we're trying to get you out of this debt...", she confessed, " We figure maybe we can bribe the guy into letting you off the hook, by returning him all his cats...pretending we found them...clear your debt another way..."

"Marceline, what the hay hay?! That's crazy! We could get into serious trouble doing this! Well, even more serious trouble than usual...", she added, "You and bubba are both crazy..."

"Bonnie c'mon, you of all people know how to play dirty, you've manipulated people to get what you want all the time...", marceline accused, "We need to do this, this is how we're gonna get you off the hook and stop doing this guys dirty work..."

She didn't speak for awhile, thinking it over a bit.

"C'mon bon, help us hide these cats and make this plan work...we'll have a higher chance of doing this with you...and then think about it, you'll be a hero to him by getting them back..."

"Marceline, this is wrong...so wrong...you know that right?"

"Yeah, bubba's been freaking out about it all day...i guess it's too much for him...", she said, "Look...i'll do anything to pay you back ok? Just help us put this into motion, i'll even...i'll even let you separate me and bubba..."

Bubba looked up at her in shock.

"Fine...we'll let this plan carry out...you can bring the cats to me though, It'll be much easier to hide them with me till i can arrange to find them and get them back to him...", she mumbled, "I'm going to regret this plan so much..."

She hung up, making the room so much tenser between both roommates.

"I'm sorry bubs..." She started.

"Marceline...look, it's ok..."He said, "It's fine...you had to do something..."

"Don't worry, the whole point of this plan was to allow jess to come back, she comes back, you go home right away, you wouldn't even be separated long...", she said, "Don't freak out ok? We pull this off, and you'll be home before you know it..."

"Yeah...yeah..." He said softly.

"We better get these cats to her, unless she is coming for them?", she wondered, looking around the room full of animals.

Bubba laid back on the couch, not saying anything.

She wandered over to him, "I'm sorry...i'm really sorry...", great, now she felt bad...worse than the guilt she already felt from destroying bonnie's stuff or catnapping. This was just wonderful...

"Don't be sorry..." He said, "Don't regret anything...guess the idea of being separated...it makes me realize how much i'm gonna miss you when i return home again..." He bit his lip, "I'm being a bummer...i'm sorry..."

"Nah...it's always kinda a sad thought...", she added, before shifting herself and laying down on top of him. He hugged her and she put her head on his shoulder, "Man i really hate this couch..."

"Heh, i still remember sleeping on the floor...since it was actually better than this couch...", he forced out a laugh.

"I still remember alot of things...ppffffffttt, finding you bleeding in the woods, while unconscious, you woke up and totally flipped out when you saw me...heh...you thought i was going to eat you or something like that..." She snickered.

"Well, when someone with fangs hovers over you in that fashion, you tend to think that...", he reached up and petted her hair, "But hey...i'm still here, still breathing, and somehow I managed to stay alive all this time..."

"It's what happens when you room with the queen of vampires...", she muttered, "You're literally living with the beast, no one wants to come near that..."

"Y'know...when I get home...you could move in? With me I mean...", he mumbled, blushing, "I mean...you don't have to but...If you want to...you could live with me and we wouldn't have to worry about being separated or not having enough time for each other..."

"That sounds nice... i'll think about it ok?", she said.

"Ok..."

"Hey...can I ask you something kinda weird?", she looked up at him.

"Sure...uh...what's on your mind?"

"Have you ever been...afraid of me?", she asked.

His eyes grew wide, "No, why do you ask?"

"I don't know...I have an affect on people, and a few times...I've gone overboard...a little..", she mumbled, "That crazy girl that had you? I was at my breaking point...I might've ripped her to pieces if she hadn't grabbed you for safety..."

She sighed, talking about this kinda stuff wasn't exactly a lot of fun, but they had to have this conversation at some point.

"You know i'm dangerous and biz, but you have no idea what i'm capable of...not even bonnie did, if you ever find out some things about me that aren't exactly all that pleasant, know that there are some things i can't control about myself..."

He hugged her, "You're worried you're gonna hurt me, aren't you?"

"I think that's why she didn't kill you and just gave you cuts...she kinda expected me to attack you myself..."

"You're better than that..."

"And what makes you so sure?"

"Because ever since we've been stuck together, you've done nothing like that...", he carefully adjusted himself to kiss her forehead, "Even if you were thinking it, you thought of me first..."

"Shut up...", she pushing him away, smiling, "Like you know me..."

He replied by tickling her sides, causing her to burst out into laughter, roll them onto the floor. "Bubba what the heck, don't do that!", he continued to tickle her as she wiggled around in laughter.

"Pfffttt...you should be more worried about me...", he said, "I can get you completely off guard..."

She grabbed both his arms and pinned him under her.

"So can I..."

He felt himself grow red when she pressed their foreheads together and she nuzzled their noses together, still laughing. "Thanks for kinda cheering me up loser...It's kinda been quite a day...for both of us actually..."

"Well, it's not everyday you kidnap cats, vandalize a princess stuff, anger a wizard, and possibly put yourself in a position that you may never recover from...", she looked her straight in the eyes, trying to rival her snarky expression.

"Now...do you plan on letting me go? We both have 20 cats we need to feed...and they've been staring at us this entire time...", his eyes wandered around the room, and he wasn't wrong.

"Well, i could...but..." She grinned evilly.

She pressed their lips together slowly for a kiss, which lasted a total of a few seconds before...

 ** _KNOCK KNOCK_**

Marceline growled before disconnecting, and letting him go to get up and answer the door. He laughed as she angrily got up, "Awwwww it's ok marceline...i'm sure we'll find time later to goof off..."

She blushed and angrily pressed her head against the door.

"WHAT?! WE'RE BUSY!" She replied a little too aggressively.

"It's pb, i'm here for your cats!", and sure enough on the other end it was the pink princess, hands on her lips and an disappointed grin on her face. Two banana guards were behind her, both carrying cat crates. Pb looked between marceline and bubba still laying on the floor, but decided not to question the situation and instead focus on the matter at hand, the guards presented the crates.

"I came here right away...", pb said, "I figure the sooner we get them all out of there the better...", the guards walked right past marceline and got to work, pb gave marceline a look.

Marceline rubbed the back of her head, "I'm sorry...again...about everything..."

Pb didn't say anything, but she did look at bubba still on the floor.

"So...uh...what happened?"

He blushed, " I-I fell...", he got up off the floor and tried to hide his face from her and instead tried to distract himself by helping the guards handle all the cats running around the place. Bonnie gave marceline a suspicious look before it formed into a knowing smile, "So you two finally did it huh? Well it's about time the two of you got together...you've both been blushing idiots about each other so long i was wondering when you'd finally start..."

She stuttered, if she'd been drinking anything, she would've clearly done a spit take.

Bubba even turned around, running right up to marceline and bonnie.

Marceline gaped, "Look...we-we uh...it only started yesterday ok? It hasn't even been that long...". Then bubba took her hand, "Yeah...it's only been a short bit...and...and...please don't separate us...", he begged, "Look...I get it...I just..."

She looked between the two of them, and their intertwined hands.

"Ok...it's ok, I-I won't do it...", she said, sighing before put a hand on both of their shoulders. "Look...I-It's your choice if you want to stay here...I-I shouldn't be forcing the two of you to separate...". She pulled them into a group hug, "Look, if you want to still be here, despite everything...then it's your choice...ok? J-just be careful...both of you...please?"

"Yeah...", bubba said, "We'll be more careful..."

"You know me...", marceline said, "Can't promise you anything..."

She was trying to make light out of the situation and bonnie attempted to smile, "I-I...I thought about what you said bubba...and well...nevermind, I just hope this plan of yours works out or we're all dead..."

"Well, we can't promise that...", marceline said, "We feel like it'll fall apart any second..."

"Well, i'll keep the cats out of sight until I can bargain with the grand master, then i'll go on a search for them, set up a story of me finding them...bring them back to him...and...then..."

"Then you should be off the hook for this hunt right?", marceline asked, "No more armies hunting down this guy, no more wizards creeping around your kingdom, you'll never have to do this again..."

"Yeah...", Pb said, before the guards came out, with all the cats in their care.

"Hey bon, thanks...for keeping us together...", she put a hand on her friend's shoulder, "If there's like...anything I can do for you-", she started to ramble a bit, but bonnie stopped her.

"No, no...it's fine...just please take care of each other...you guys have gotten in so much trouble and...i'm sick of worrying about you two all the time...you guys can't keep putting yourselves in danger..." She said, mom instincts coming in, " If you guys end up...ugh..."

"We'll be _**fine**_ bon..."

"Princess, we have to go...", one of the guards called back to her.

"Ok...call me, if anything happens...ok?", she said, walking backwards, " I mean it..."

"We will..." bubba called to her.

They watched her leave, and breathed sighs of relief.

Bubba plopped back on the hard couch, "We're uh...lucky...to have her..."

"Yeah, i guess so...", she plopped down next to him, and put a hand on his face.

he moved it away, " I'm tired...we should both probably rest...it's been a long day and I need some time to relax and feel calm for just a little bit, even if i won't last super long and it'll fade away in a few hours..."

"Yeah...we should probably sleep...it might help us a little...but...maybe we should eat first...don't you think?", she suggested, "You haven't eaten all day and I've been eating whatever red i could find during our mission...if bonnie asks about her ruby dress, tell her finn painted it white..."

He laughed a little, "Well, you're not wrong i guess...i am kinda hungry...", he held his stomach, "But I don't really know what to make y'know...I kinda have alot of other things on my mind...for once..."

She pretended to be shocked, "Who are you and what have you done with bubba!?", then she stood up and stretched herself out. "It's cool dude...I can fix something real quick if you want...I mean, i'm not great a cook but..."

"No, go ahead if you want...i'll help...", he slowly got up off the couch, " Maybe doing something I love will help me out a bit...", he yawned and made his way into the kitchen to wash his hands and look around for ingredients.

She floated into the room, "Don't start without me man..."

She wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him in, kissing him on the cheek.

She was about to help him start on their food, when another knock came on their door, making the two of them divert their attention to the door. Marceline left the room, irritated, and pressed her ears against the door.

"Ugh, what?"

"Open the door, we know you did it!", came a voice, and a few other as well, there was a group of people outside of her home! Ugh, couldn't everyone just leave her alone today?! This wasn't the time.

Marceline opened the door and gave her guests a face of pure anger.

It was a group of familiar wizards, familiar in the worst kind.

"We don't want any trouble...", came the leader, who marceline would've easily punched in the face if she really felt like it. Surrounded by his familiar gang of minions, all making the same dumb face at her.

"Well, being at my house isn't helping...", she said, disgruntled.

"We're in deep trouble cause of you, but since you catnapped from the grand wizard...i suppose that'll change really quickly...", he smirked, "We know it had to be you...no one else is crazy enough to do that..."

She had to lie through her teeth, and boy would that be hard since she wasn't sure if they could put a truth spell on her or not.

"No, I had nothing to do with it...", she looked them up and down, "Like I'd be able to handle that many cats at once...you guys need to go away and leave me alone, bubba got hurt because of you jerks..."

"Well, you destroyed our hideout...", one of them mumbled. They continued to give her dirty looks, and even seemed to be looking behind her at the prince who was slightly panicking in the kitchen.

Marceline cleared her throat, "It's a small house...do you see any cats?"

They talked amongst themselves, they clearly thought they could catch her red handed. The leader stepped forward, "How about we look around, make sure you're telling the truth? Since you're so sure..."

"Dude, after what you did, do you really think I want to let you into my home?", she glared at all of them, " You guys aren't going with in five feet of bubs, or anything within my home...go away..."

"Well, you could show us, prove you're innocent...or...we could go in ourselves, and someone could get hurt...", bubba backed up a little , just watching the exchange between marceline and their guests.

She bit her lip, "One of you...only one of you can come in...and i have to keep an eye on you the whole time...", she glared between all of them, "If it freaking makes you happy...".

The leader stepped forward, "Sounds fair enough..."

He pushed her out of the way, and marceline closed the door behind him .

He walked around, "You live here? I'd think a queen would have a much nicer place to stay then a small house...", he looked at the couch, "Can't even get get better furniture i see, this couch is completely hard..."

"Well, it's not like i need to sit...", she stated, as he examined it for possible signs of cat hair.

The cat hair.

She needed to come up with something quick.

And that's when bubba came down the ladder, a small white dog in his arms. He must've had the same thoughts and ran up to find schwabl as soon as the man entered their home, marceline looked at him, still worried, but also thankful.

His sudden entrance diverted the wizard's attention.

"How's your leg?", he asked, grin planted on his face.

"I'm gonna to ignore that question...", bubba said, holding up the small dog, "This is our dog, schwabl, he's a zombie dog...and don't you think if we had cats anywhere in this house he'd be going off right now?"

"Perhaps...", He said, "Mind if i see your upstairs?"

"fine...", he went up first, but before marceline went after, bubba grabbed her arm.

"Did he see the cat food?", he whispered frantically, marceline's eyes grew just as wide before she shook her head. Bubba put the small dog down and ran into the kitchen to dispose of their evidence as quickly as possible.

Marceline gulped and followed the guy up, luckily the cats never even went up here, so finding any evidence up here was the least of her worries. But she certainly didn't need him stealing anything important.

She had to keep him busy so bubba could hide any evidence he could.

"Nice to know you guys immediately accuse me of this, how stupid do you think i am, i'm already in enough trouble...", she remarked at him, "You guys should go bother someone else..."

"We could...but we know how much you like to get in trouble...", he said, "You did sneak into wizard city after all...at this point, i wouldn't be surprised at anything you could possibly do..."

"You and bonnie should hang out then...", she grumbled.

"You two share a bed?", he said, staring at the messy bed in front of him. Normally bubba would clean their room, but considering how busy their day was together...well, this place was a mess.

"Yeah...so what?! It's a small house...He's gotta sleep somewhere...", she said, "We also share a bathroom...but honestly that isn't really any of your business, finish up and get out..."

"Tsk tsk...be patient...", he started to look under the clothes piled on the floor and under the mattresses and marceline was starting to get really agitated. she crossed her amrs and gave him a dirty look, "It's my house...i'll be as angry as i like.."

She could hear faint noises of movement downstairs, no doubt bubba disposing of the cat food and trying to clean up any sign of cat hair before he came back down and got a closer look.

Although, marceline wasn't even sure if he was even any good at spotting cat hair.

"I suppose this room seems pretty clean, hmmmm...maybe you just ate all those little critters then?", he joked, "Considering the things you vampires have done, it wouldn't really surprise me at this point..."

" I ain't gonna deny vampires were kinda jerks, but i'm not really that kind of vampire...", she said, " S'not like you guys, who conjure up evil beasts and hurt people on a daily basis with your magic..."

"Touche...", he finished up and marceline carefully ushered him out of the room, and back to the living room, where bubba was sitting on the couch, looking alot more crazier then he did before. Clearly from trying to clean up as fast as possible, bubba was slightly out of breath, maybe if the leader paid more attention to this fact, they would've been in more trouble then they already were.

The wizards took a close look around the room one last time, before nodding, "Alright...you guys...seem clean...for now...so i suppose i can let you off the hook for now...but i will be back...", he slowly made his way to the door, looking back at them.

They both were glaring at him, looks to kill.

He grinned, "I'll be keeping an eye on you lovebirds..."

"Get out...and stay away from us...", marceline growled, "We're done...there's nothing else to it...". She ushered him out the door and back with his group, "And if you come back, you'll be losing those arms..."

She slammed the door on them and waited for them to leave, bubba staying close to her, still trying to calm down. He couldn't deny being frightened, especially considering what he knew those guys could do to him.

"Bubba...you're shaking...", marceline said once the group had left out the entrance of the cave.

"Sorry...", he said, "I-I just...ugh...if those guys...nevermind...", he back off and calmed himself down, bending down and holding his knees, "I had to clean up with a roller as fast as possible...ugh..."

"Sorry...", she said, locking the door, "Enough visitors today..."

"Yeah...yeah...please...any more and i think i might end up having a heart attack...", he collapsed on the floor. She helped him back up to his feet, "Everything feels awful...ugh..."

"You should sit down, i'll work on the food...", she suggested, and before he could protest, she put her hands under him, and picked him up, "I'm sorry i put you under this much pressure...today's been...quite crazy...".

"I'm sorry I've been freaking out so much...", he said, breathing out a sigh, "I've never done anything this crazy before...and i'm just so worried about this, or that, and what'll happen if this blows up in my face again...", he face palmed, "Being a prince, you're always expected to follow the rules and do the right thing, and now i'm...kidnapping and being threatened and putting you and my friends in danger..."

"Hey...it's not like it's your fault...I came up with this dumb plan...", she looked away from him, "We both new this plan was stupid and could kinda get us in the worst kind of trouble...". She put him back down, "We were lucky with bonnie, but she isn't wrong about me being a bad influence on you...and getting you in this much trouble ...this is a prime example of it..."

She brushed her hair out of her face, "Trust me, i'm thankful she isn't going to separate us anymore...but...". Then she felt a warm hand holding her face, bubba made her look right back him, " Let's not let this ruin our whole day, ok?". He attempted a small smile, " We aren't being separated anymore, we got those guys out without any harm, and so far...the plan is working...".

She looked right into his eyes, and then nodded, "Yeah...yeah...you're right...". He pulled her into a hug, "Let's just both calm down, and enjoy the rest of today together, sound cool? And if anything happens, we'll handle it together...I mean, I clearly knew the kind of risk i was taking when i decided to stay here with you, no reason to turn back now, despite all this..."

She buried her face in her shoulder, "You're too good for me bubs, I hate you for that..."

A genuine laugh came out of bubba's mouth, he ended their hug and playfully kissed her face in an onslaught of kisses. She laughed and pushed him off her, and then punched his arm playfully, "Pfffffttt...you weirdo...". Then she felt her stomach growl, " C'mon...we probably should go back and finish making food...if we don't eat something soon, i'm gonna flipping die..."

Bubba stood up and helped her to her feet.

"You better not...", he teased.

Meanwhile outside, something emerged from the bushes, a small wizard.

he brushed the leaves from his body and cloak and quietly left the cave, he looked around carefully before hitting a small button on his amulet, a projected image of the leader wizard appeared before him.

"Any news?", he asked.

"Yes...", the sneak replied, "We have much to discuss..."


	23. Caught

Bubba's soft snores always seemed to make marceline feel better, she didn't know if it was because they were kinda oddly adorable, or because they were a clear sign that he was still alive and breathing...

and this was no exception.

He was laying his head down on her lap, as she waited inside a waiting room of a very large building. She didn't want to admit it, but she was extremely freaked out, being basically locked in a room in wizard city's version of a court isn't exactly a fun place to be.

She felt at fault, she should've destroyed those crazy wizards when she had the chance.

She couldn't imagine what might happen to them when they were presented in front of the grand master wizard, she just had to hope the evidence these freaking wizard's had were not enough to do anything to them.

Bubba slept soundly, he had a hard time seeping last night and being dragged out of bed due to wizard city guards sending them to court wasn't helping. He wanted to be back in their house, and she wanted so badly to burst her way out of here and back to her cave with him.

But that would only make them look more guilty.

* * *

She pet his head while he slept, she didn't know how long they'd been here, but she felt like it was at least a few hours. She only hoped the call she made for bonnie to come had been gotten by her friend, since it went to message.

She needed all the support she could right now.

And that was when bonnie walked into the room, speak of the devil, and like usual she had looks to kill.

Instead of going straight to marceline, however, she went the door across the room where she knew the grand master wizard was currently and let herself in, marceline didn't even think she even glanced at her or bubba.

Guess she couldn't really blame her, considering what she and bubba have been putting her through, she probably wouldn't want to talk to her too. Bubba moved his head a little, trying to get himself comfortable.

He opened his eyes, yawning and looking up at her.

"Please tell me we're done here...", he remarked, before letting out another yawn, "Or did they kill us and we're currently in glob world? Cause I don't know anymore...", she continued to pet his head, and grin at him.

"Friad not...it's just not our day today..."

"I don't want to be here...", he mumbled, "Can't these people just let us go? We've been here forever...", she bit her lip and tried to cheer him up, "Nope, guess not...clearly they're crazier than we thought..."

He yawned again, "Did bonnie arrive already...?"

"Yeah... she just showed up...I think she's talking to the grand wizard now...", and although marceline felt very comfortable in having his head on her lap, he sat up and began rubbing his eyes to try and get all the sleep out.

"Ugh...well...good, maybe soon we can just...get out...maybe eat...sleep...", he felt dazed still, and tried to sit properly in the seat next to marceline, then he immediately grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers.

"You sure you don't want to keep resting..?", she teased, "Cause I wasn't complaining y'know..."

"I know...but I better get up at some point, if bonnie can't do anything, we're going to be put on trial and who knows if we'll even be able to get ourselves out of this one...", he sighed, "We took it too far this time..."

"Yeah, guess i can't argue with that...", she leaned her head against him, "I wish that I knew what evidence they even had against us...I could do something...then we wouldn't have to worry so much.."

"But if they found evidence, then it's my fault...", he mumbled, "I did my best to hide all the evidence, but there wasn't much time and they caught us by surprise and there was no way I could keep everything wrapped up..."

"Don't blame yourself...we're going to be fine...I hope...", she gave him a reassuring squeeze, " At least they didn't attack us, or do anything crazy...that could've easily resulted in a fight y''know..."

"True...", knowing marceline and how she worked, there was no doubt that she and those crazies would've tried to tear each other apart. Bubba could only hope that he'd never have to see marceline fight like a true vampire.

It took a while before the princess came back out he door, this time coming over to the couple, she looked as if she'd come back from the worst experience of her life and the couple couldn't help but shift uncomfortably.

She stood in front of them, arms crossed, and motherly instincts kicking in.

"You both owe me so much...", she said, and before they could ask what was up, she continued to speak. " They had evidence of you confessing to the crime, but...i may or may have not told them off by saying that i manged to "find" all the missing cats in an abandoned building...and i took them to safety..."

"And...did they believe you?", marceline asked, nervously shrugging.

"They're suspicious...they want me to show them...", she replied, rubbing her forehead, You guys have no idea how bad this is...if i can't convince them...my kingdom is gonna be in some deep trouble..."

She looked between the both of them, "And no...you can't help me...i'm calling finn and jake in a bit after i leave, but with you guys there...it'll look suspicious...I want you two to stay here...ok? I don't care what you do, but just stay here..."

Marceline grumbled a bit, and bubba nodded.

"Ok...good...", she put a hand on both of their shoulders, "And don't get into any fights out here...these people are already suspicious enough as it is...we don't need anymore problems then we already have..."

She let go of her friends and left the room, leaving them alone once again in the waiting room.

Marceline stood up and stretched herself out, "Ugh...great...we get to miss all the fun...", she kicked the ground, "Ugh...this is so stupid...", Bubba got himself up and tried to calm her down as best he could, not that it really seemed to help much.

" Hey...relax...just let bonnibel handle it...we need to lay low...", he tried hugging her from the back. She let him, still slightly angry, "Ugh...when i see those jerks again...i'm gonna destroy them..."

"You need to relax..." He said, "c'mon...we can keep each other company until she gets back...there's no reason to get upset..."

"Yeah, but if freaking bonnie gets hurt or something goes wrong..." She started, before pulling herself away from him. "Ugh...this plan was the dumbest thing i've ever done, ugh...i swear...i'm an idiot..."

"You're not an idiot, i shouldn't have even let us go through with the plan to begin with...", he said, "I mean, it's only by luck we haven't failed yet...and even then we're still hanging by a thread..."

They shared a moment of silence together.

"The only thing we can do now is wait...ok? Let's just do that for bonnie, it's the least we could do for her right now...", he ushered her to sit back down next to him and they both sat in silence, worried expressions plastered on their faces and the ticking of what they could assume was a magic clock on the wall being the only sound they could hear. Bubba wondered what would even happen to them if they got caught.

And the thoughts made him feel a little sick.

"Hey, wake up!"

Bubba felt himself being shook, he blinked himself awake before seeing a familiar figure in front of him.

"Jess?"

"In the flesh...", she replied before shaking marceline, who awoke with a hiss.

"The search for me is dying, so let's go now...do you have the book?", she asked, with no hesitation. They looked between each other, and shook their heads, they had never gone to get it due to "laying low", which after ending up in the position they were now, it was obvious they should've just gone with it as soon as possible.

"Well, then we better go get it now...", she said, jasper was slinked around her shoulders, he looked rather eager to leave as well.

"W-we can't...", bubba blurted out, "I-i'm sorry...but not now...we need to stay here for our friend...", he grabbed marceline hand, "It's good to see you again, but we can't go...we have to stay here..."

She looked rather confused, she spent all day practically just to find them, and now it was for some reason a complete waste of her time. She looked between the two of them," What happened? We should get this book and do this spell now..."

Although marceline wanted to go, any excuse to get out of this place was fine with her, she didn't leave bubba's side.

"Yeah...we uh...we're in a bit of a pickle, and well...we can't leave...", she bit her lip, she looked at the wizard in an apologetic manner. "I'm sorry, but we still got it to work, we got rid of those crazy searches...i think..."

"Fine...fine...", she mumbled, "I won't make you leave...", she sat in mid air, "But...if you can tell me what i'm looking for...maybe i can go and get the book myself...that way you won't have to leave an-"

"No...we're laying low, and so should you for now...", bubba assured, "We'll be fine together, we can wait a few days...but we need you to allow us to let this blow over, we took a huge risk doing this and well...we put our friends in a tight spot..."

"Wait...", her eyes grew wide, "What ibdid /b/iyou do?"

Marceline felt the back of her head , not even really looking her in the eyes. "I'm sorry, your request was crazy and we weren't sure of the best way of getting those parties to stop so we sorta...planned on kinda bribing the grand master..."

"You...what?"

"Well, what did you expect us to do, we aren't magic and we weren't in charge of this whole search party anyway, it's not we could've even asked for bonnie to stop it, the whole search for you was her way of getting her out of trouble...", marceline argued, "We did this because we needed to help you...and now we've done it and our friends are in serious trouble...don't get angry at us...we're already upset enough..."

She didn't say anything else, sighing and petting jasper's head.

Bubba calmed marceline down before she set off, "I'm sorry, we've just been under alot of stress...we've never gotten ourselves in such trouble and well...if things don't go to plan, we're gonna be in so much trouble..."

She played with her hair, "Well...could i help? Get you off the hook?"

"I don't think that's a good idea, i mean...what if you got caught? All this would've been for nothing...", he shifted his eyes around the room, "We can't take anymore risks...especially not in the city we're currently on bad terms with.."

"Ok...I'll go then...if you're sure..." She said, turning invisible right before them. "I'll go...and i guess i'll contact you later then...", a door opened, assumed that she left through it.

Marceline kinda wanted to go after her, but bubba held her back.

"She'll be fine...don't worry about her...we'll talk to her when we get back in contact with her again ok?" He reassured her, "Let's just keep cool until bonnie comes back and hopefully things will blow over..."

"Yeah but...ugh...maybe she could've...used her magic to make this end or...something!", she hit her forehead, "We should've let her help...i mean...ugh...i shouldn't have freaked out at her..."

"She creates things with her magic, she can't really do much that'll solve this...", he said, "We can't get her involved in this...if something happens to her, i'm never going to get home..."

"Yeah...yeah...", she sighed, "I know..."

"Not everything can be fixed with the wave of a wand...", he said softly, "Some things have to be fixed the normal way..."

Then the door opened again and slammed behind jess, who looked panicked as she returned to them and hid behind them. Before they could ask, she shhhed them, and turned invisible behind them, just as soon as a familiar group of wizards walked in through the same door.

The royals tensed, did they see her?

They had to assume no, considering that the majority of the group went past them and into the other room and only the leader stayed behind. Most likely to taunt them, considering the expression on his face.

"You two doing well? Cause i don't think so...", he said, looking around the room, "You know you deserve this right? You can get angry with me all you want, but what you did means you deserve this..."

Bubba grasped marceline's arms, he didn't need her to do anything too rational.

He felt jess behind them, trying not to make a sound, but still accidentally being knocked into by him.

He managed to get some words out, "Look...we don't want anymore trouble...just uh...you outta go join your crew...they're probably waiting for you...', he nodded over the the door the gang has left through.

"I can stay for a bit, we're in no rush...", he shrugged, "I'm sure you lovebrids won't mind my company for a bit, right?". He didn't seem very intimidated when marceline growled at him, and took a seat in front of them.

"We don't want to talk to you...", bubba started again, setting marceline down in a seat behind him, feeling jess move to the side a bit. He crossed his arms at him, he felt scared but wasn't going to let it show.

"I wouldn't think you would...but you have to remember what you put me through, you invaded my city, attacked my group, destroyed my hideout, and then kidnapped the pets of our leader...how am i the bad guy?", he said.

"You kidnapped me, you hurt my friends...", bubba argued.

"You broke the law and snuck into our kingdom...is it bad i wanted to make a bit of profit out of it?", he said, "We all need to make a living out there, and under the right circumstances...you could've got out scot free..."

Bubba huffed.

Marceline clenched her teeth, "You kidnapped him...you could've just turned us into the authorities or something, but no, you thought it'd be better if you kidnapped him and held him for ransom...don't try to make that any less wrong..."

Bubba joined in, "If you're so sure we kidnapped his cats, then how does that make us any less different from each other? Kidnapped a living thing from a powerful royal figure...you're no better..."

"Hmmm...true, but at least i got off the hook...", he remarked, making marceline lung at him, only stopped when bubba grabbed her waist and held her up to his chest, keeping her from doing anything else.

"You better calm that vampire, she could hurt someone if you aren't careful...", he said, and bubba gave him a look, "Marceline is fine, now do you mind already? We wanna sit here in peace..."

"Oh, wasn't just referring to your girlfriend, that strange vampire hiding behind you you should also be a little uncertain about..."

Bubba and marceline felt their stomachs drop.

Suddenly a flash of light flew behind bubba and marceline, hitting the vampiric wizard and causing her to reveal herself. She held on to the spot where she was hit and hissed, but then it healed itself in an instant.

"GET HER!"

Bubba and marceline ducked down, heavy magic fire went on above them, they couldn't stay, they had to get out of here as quickly as possible before something bad happened to either of them.

Bubba ushered for marceline to crawl with him out the door, but that clearly wasn't what she wanted to do. Instead he saw her tackle the leader to the ground, and throw him against the wall, proceeding to take down his crew who were now involved in the fight.

Bubba was hiding behind some chairs now, unsure of where jess had run off to.

He couldn't see her anywhere, but then again, he didn't have the courage to lift his head up to see very much.

he could hear screams however, ones he could only assume were due to marceline trying to take down the crew, and hopefully she wasn't doing anything...well...lethal to any of them, at least he really hoped so.

He held himself , waiting for all the fighting to be over.

Then someone yanked him out of his hiding spot.

"C'mon you dummy...", marceline took ahold of his arm and rushed him out of the room of what he hoped was unconscious bodies, she looked rather disheveled, despite not looking injured although he could only imagine the scars she'd have if she didn't have healing powers.

He swore softly, They were so dead, so so dead...

She hissed when the sunlight hit her, she'd taken an umbrella to get here but she must have left it inside, and there was no way she was going back there. Those wizards could wake any second and she'd be toast.

She fell to the ground, clutching herself and hissing.

"MARCELINE!", bubba immediately on instinct, tried to shade her under his body , but it clearly wasn't going to be enough to help her. He had to think of something, quick, but all he could think about was getting her back inside the building, it was the only choice.

He picked her up, she felt so much lighter than before, and took her back into the building.

He laid her down on the floor gently and brushed some hair out of her face.

She healed up seconds later, weight returning and eyes blinking away the white.

"Bubs...we can't stay here, i attacked them, when they wake up...they're going to kill us...", she mumbled, he ushered to to stay down as he searched the room, it was only the main entrance, not the waiting room in which the fight started.

But there was no telling how long these guys would be out.

He needed to get her out of here, some kind of form of shade, a blanket? Nah, it'd be harder to carry and there wasn't one here. Her umbrella was in the room with those wizards and he sure wasn't going back for that alone...

Then he looked down at himself.

He hadn't much time to change this morning, neither of them had, so the best he could do was throw on a hoodie over a top and put some jeans on. They were probably dirty now that he thought about it...

He took off the hoodie immediately and put it on marceline, putting it's hood over her head.

This would have to do, at least it covered her face and arms, and between that and her jeans, she was basically covered from head to toe. As long as she kept the hoodie on and over her head, she'd be just fine.

He picked her up bridal style, keeping her close to his chest.

"This time, i'm saving iyou/i...c'mon...we need to get out of here and contact bonnie...", he tried to run as fast as he could, marceline didn't seem to be in pain, so the hoodie must've been working.

He had to hide himself in the crowd of people, although it wouldn't be easy considering just how well he stood out . He ducked his head down and kept moving as he heard some shouts behind him, marceline was relying on him this time, he couldn't fail this now...

Marceline was trying to see what was going on, but she had to bury her fave into him in order to keep it from being exposed to the sunlight. But she could tell that he was getting tired, and that he was running out of strength to keep on carrying her.

That didn't seem to stop him though, as he ducked into an alleyway real quick in order to not be spotted, when the coast was clear, he walked much slower through the group of people, trying to blend would be much easier if he didn't look as if he were on the run.

Then he saw the exit, and causally made it's way to the exit when someone got him in the back, causing him to drop marceline onto the ground, and himself to fall the pavement, usiing his hands to stop him from falling on his face.

Marceline angrily hissed and tried to get up, but the sun was out and she had to face the ground in order to keep it away from herself.

"I swear...when the nighttime comes...i'm gonna break every bone in your body...", she muttered under her breath, then she noticed bubba , in even more pain and trying to stand back up.

"Bubs, no...what are you doing?"" She whispered to him, "You're injured enough as it is..."

But he still got to his feet to greet the leader who got his back, it really stung, standing was much harder then it should have been. He panted hard, trying to recollect himself a bit, while a crowd grew around the scene in awe.

"Leave us alone...", he said, "Haven't you done enough to us?"

"Not quite...", he eyed towards marceline, she was vulnerable in this state, if she was exposed enough to the sun...

Bubba knew what he was about to do, he walked right in front of marceline, and put out his fists, ready to fight. Now of course the leader laughed at him as soon as he did this, "You're going to protect her, huh? Don't hurt yourself kid, you're too soft for her...she's been through hell and back...and you suddenly think you're gonna protect biher/i/b from what's out there? You're lucky she hasn't eaten you..."

And that was when bubba tackled him to the ground in a fit of anger.

Marceline had never seen him so angry in her life, he could get blasted with a spell any second, but he didn't seem to care as hit the leader continuously, taking out all his anger at him and keeping him away from marceline.

He slowed down soon though, he had given the man a bloody nose and multiple bruises, the princes burst out into tears.

Then someone pulled him off of him, his shoulders sagged.

He turned around to face the princess of the candy kingdom, finally back, and completely speechless.

Bubba went over to marceline and hugged her immediately, he was hugging her as if they weren't ever going to hug again, tightly clutching her to himself as he cried into her shoulder miserably.

The leader struggled to stand up, and he might've attacked if bonnie hadn't put herself between him and the couple.

He vanished, poof, gone from the crowd.

Bubba sobbed, trying to calm himself down, he's fought before...but never like this, never in a fit of anger...he buried his face in her shoulder as much as he could, and he felt marceline hugging him back, trying to clam him down.

"I'm sorry...i'm sorry...", he muttered weakly.

"Hey.y...it's ok...you were only trying to protect me...", keeping her hands in the hoodie, one hand reached up to the back of his head, bonnie cleared out the crowd that had been surrounding them, gettign them all to leave.

She didn't even look angry at them, and she and marceline exchanged glances as she made a phone call to hat she could probably assume was either peppermint butler or possibly finn and jake.

Soon, she got both marcy and bubba to stand up and helped them both reach her kingdom by the morrow, but she didn't even know what to say, to either of them, or even if there was anything to say.

But when bubba seemed to have properly calmed down, laying down on a couch and with marceline at his side, she sighed. "He got his cats back...your...ridiculous plan...worked, and well...we're...friends now...i guess..."

She held her arms, " I hope you guys are ok..."

Marceline gave her a look, "Us? Ok? After being attacked and almost killed? Sure bon, we're just peachy...", her sarcastic tone made the princess flinch a little, she held herself a little tighter.

"You guys...what happened?", she asked, " Did they straight up attack you? Or did something else happen?"

"It was jess, they knew we we're aligned with her and attacked us, she was trying to hide behind us but...", bubba mumbled, "I-I don't even know where she went, or if she's still alive, but i just wanted to make sure me and marceline got out of there...before...before..."

Then he hissed in pain, "They got me in the back...ughhh...".

"I saw...", pb looked at the worried vampire queen, " He's not bleeding, it was more of an electric shock, he's bruised back there...so i suggest putting some ice back there, but it's nothing i need to help fix..."

Marceline looked miserably at him as he winced in pain, "You didn't have to protect me...but...thanks..."

"He was gonna expose you to the sun..." He muttered, "I couldn't let him do that to you...I-I just couldn't..." , the tears were coming back and he tried to wipe them away, "You would've done the same for me..."

"So...whose jess?", bonnie asked, "And why were they after her?"

Marceline and bubba looked at each other, marceline sighed.

"She was the wizard you were sent after...it's a long story..."

Bubba winced when they put ice on his back, but afterwards he couldn't help but feel alot better. Marceline herself was naturally pretty cold, but the ice was just what he needed to help with his back right now.

Marceline grinned, "Feeling better?"

"Better than i was before at least...", he laid down on their bed, bonnie was sending finn and jake to collect their things considering it wasn't safe to head back out just yet, not with those crazy wizards about.

But that was fine, the candy kingdom rooms were always nice, and at least it was safer and cleaner than back home.

Schwabl was being recovered by finn and jake, because if he got dog-napped, marceline was sure to flip out. She also added on to get her axe bass back, stating that if they broke it, they were "so Dead".

Bubba only really wanted his crown and glasses back, and seriously hoped marceline wasn't going to be using her axe for anything...er...particularly bad. Although he couldn't really blame her, the two of them were almost killed today.

Nonetheless, he didn't want her to do anything rash.

He tried to make himself comfortable on the bed, marceline still looked rather upset so he tried his hardest to lighten the mood, wanting marceline to smile again. He gave a weak laugh, "Well hey...at least this time I didn't need any serious treatments..."

It wasn't working, considering her unchanged expression.

He coughed into his hand, "I'm sorry..."

"No...it's fine...it's been a crazy day..." She stood up, "Pffftttt...we get all worried and worked up about bonnie separating us due to the danger, and now we're both trapped in her castle and were almost killed today..."

She tied her hair back, "I'm not even sure how long we'll be here...or even if it'll ever be safe to leave again after what happened...I mean, I've done a number on bad guys before but...I've never seen a mortal take down a wizard like that...". She looked at him, "I've never seen you so violent...I mean, you can clearly fight with swords, but I never imagined you...beating someone up..."

"You're not the only one..." He mumbled, sadly, shifting himself on the mattress again. "I'm sorry I scared you...but I had enough...I couldn't let you die...I had to do something about it..."

"No no..." She reassured, "It was amazing...".

She managed to get out a smile, "I mean...you took him down! All by yourself! You scared him off! I mean, finn has taken down some impressively dangerous creatures before, but I've never seen anything quite like that before..."

"You were impressed ?", he said, turning red.

"Dude...you took down a dangerous master wizard and made him bleed, right in front of the people of wizard city!", she said, "You kicked butt bubs...you showed him...all to protect me..."

She kissed his forehead, and ruffled his hair," Nice job hero...thanks for the assist to your lady..."

"Well, you'd do the same for me...", He said, "You've protected me glob knows how many times since I've arrived in this strange world...and well...yeah...". He blushed, "I hope we get to go home soon...it's gonna be awkward living in a castle again, I doubt we'll have any privacy..."

"Well, i'm sure when i get my axe back, i can scare everyone off a little...", she winked, "But y'know...we could've gotten separate rooms if you really wanted to? it's not like bonnie has a lack of beds..."

"Force of habit..." He said, "Plus I like sharing rooms...idespite you leaving your underwear everywhere/i..."

"What was that you just mumbled?"

"Nothing."

Bonnie burst into the room, turned on the lights, making the sleeping couple wake up.

"Guys! Get up!", she said, panicked.

"Ugh...bon...can this wait?" Marceline mumbled, burying her face in her pillow, "I'm tired..."

She held up a note.

"They have jess...", she said, "They want you to meet them...or they'll destroy her"

Bubba and marceline exchanged looks.

Bonnie's worried look only grew.

"What are we going to do?"

 **Hey guys, the next two chapters will be the two part end conclusion to this story, they may take some time to finish XD**

 **But thanks for following this story, I had fun working on it.**

 **After it ends, i might just do some mini one-shot stories every once in awhile, not just for gumceline, I also found some other silly ships i might write for in the future. ;)**

 **I'm starting collage in a few days, so we'll see how much time i have.**

 **Thanks for following, and be patient as this story comes to an end.**


	24. The Beginning Of The End, Part 1: Ooo

Bubba and marceline ate breakfast in silence in the candy kingdom kitchen, and bonnie sat across from them, also in silence. It was clear nobody was sure what to say to each other, or what they were going to do.

Bubba wanted to do it, face them, but he knew marceline wouldn't let him considering his back still stung a good bit when he moved, and that bonnie was sure not going to let him go anywhere and get injured again.

They had to do something though, this silence couldn't go on forever, not while bubba's only way home was in the hands of the enemy.

Bubba couldn't even think of any way to lighten the mood, there was no way whatsoever, all of them couldn't hide the worry pained in their faces. Bubba wanted to maybe bring a group to fight them off, but it was clear they wanted them to come alone.

Marceline would've been probably cool with that, considering how well she took them all down all by herself, but maybe that was shaken a bit after getting herself nearly killed by those same guys.

Sure, she'd been close to death probably a dozen times in her long immortal lifetime, but using the sun as a way to keep her from fighting and getting away was scary, it made her defenseless against them.

She kept a mental note to always have gloves and a hat from now on.

She keep eyeing bubba, even though she was sure bubba wouldn't mind staying here with her, they still couldn't let them keep jess hostage, after the trauma bubba went through in their custody, she could only imagine what they'd do to her.

Bonnie sighed, finally breaking the silence.

"We need to discuss this...and we need to discuss this now...how are we going to get her back?", she looked between them as they faced her, both with equally sad and worried expressions.

"You two can't ignore this...we need to think of how to do this, if you face them on your own, they're sure to find a way to destroy you...bubba's weak, and you shouldn't go alone marceline, they're dangerous..."

"What about getting help, grand master wizard? You're friends now, right?", marceline said, "Get that crazy dude to help us for the cat thing? I mean...we could have some allies on our side!"

"Marceline...I don't know...",Pb played with her food, using her fork, shifting the pancakes and fruit. "We're finally on equal terms, i don't want to ask for any favors...i'll be in his debt again..."

"So this doesn't matter to you basically, you want to help, but you don't want to help?", marceline muttered rather rudely.

"No, that's not true...but it's just asking alot of me to-", she tried to explain before marceline cut her off and speaking in a softer, more apologetic manner. "- I know I know...ugh...I just...we need all the help we can get..."

"I could send finn and jake, they could have your back in a stealth mode...", she suggested, "We can't send you alone and we can't send you with a full army either, there has to be a solution to this somehow..."

"Well you tell me bonnie..." Marceline said, "Because at this rate...we aren't going to get anywhere ...we need to get her back and so far, we have no idea what to do in order to get her back without us either getting hurt in the process."

Bubba then spoke up, "What about you?"

He was looking right at bonnie, " You have alot of gadgets right? You could be our back up, you and the boys could help us catch them and get our friend back, safe and sound with no problems..."

They both started at him, marceline held his shoulder, "what'ca saying bubs?"

"Well, think about it, you can turn invisible due to your tech right? give them same tech to finn and jake, we'll go up there and it'll look as if we're alone...we can try to approach it rationally...but if it fails, you guys could get them off guard..."

"Well...i guess that's something..." Pb said, scratching her head.

"Bubs...they saw jess, even when she was hidden...i mean...they might be expecting it...", she said, " What about my dad? I mean, sure, it's kinda a wild card to bring him, but it's worth a shot at least that he might attack these guys for their souls or something..."

"They're still people marceline..." Pb muttered.

"Not to me..."

"Ice king?", bubba said, "He's a good friend, he'd totally do anything to help you and me...he might not be the stealthiest but he could also be a useful alley since he's also a wizard, right?"

They all looked between each other.

"I think we might be able to work with this...", pb said.

-

Marceline, glove clad, and wearing her usual sunhat, flew with bubba in her arms. Flying was faster, and bubba sure didn't want to walk, he felt bad enough as it was without dealing with with foot blisters.

They wanted to meet in a cave, which i guess could be assumed since being out in the open left more room for an ambush.

It was actually quite hidden, in the edge of a forest, side of a cliff, was hard to see amoungst all the trees. Bubba was extremely thankful marceline was so knowledgeable about Ooo to find this place, but i guess that's what happens when your a thousand years old and have nothing to do...you go see the world to it's full potential.

She placed him on the ground, feet first, gently.

"I don't like this...at all...", he whispered to her, "Are you sure it's even safe to go in there, they could easily sneak up on the two of us with a place that dark...it's just...it's unfair...". He looked behind them suddenly, "They could be watching us right now..."

"They probably are... _but if they know what's good for them, they'll avert those peepers before i get my hands on them_...", she threatened, before taking his hand and intertwining their fingers together to comfort him.

"C'mon, we better get moving...just stay close to me so we don't get lost ok?", she held on to him tight as they entered the cave, marceline started to sniff the air, using her other senses to make sure no one was planning on blasting them in the shadows.

Bubba stayed right behind her, one hand intertwined, the other holding onto her shoulder, partially for support.

She growled, "You guys better come out now...i can tell you're here...".

She could barely see a thing, when a light came on, in fact, a bunch of lights came on from torches lined on the walls.

It was like magic.

"You made it...just when i thought you two might've chickened out...", the leader walked into the light, "Good...then we can settle this now and end this ridiculous feud...". He looked between them ,"I could've as easily turned her in, but you clearly need her...so...this might be more beneficial to both of us..."

"What do you want from us...?", marceline snarled, "What, you plan on killing the two of us, take my immortality? What exactly did you want to bring us here for? Cause I'd rather go home thank you very much..."

"I want to fight...you win, you get her and go off scot free...I win...I turn her in and you both in as her accomplices...", he replied simply, hand glowing with magic abilities and a smirk on his face.

Marceline glared at him, "You just wanna duel? Fine...whatever...I can take you...". She stood in front of bubba, hands and arms transforming much larger and much more aggressive than usual, "You're dead..."

"Ah ah ah...", he said, "Not you..."

He looked over at the prince hiding behind her, "Him...".

Marceline quickly transformed back to normal, "What?! but he's already injured enough by you guys, how is this a fair fight in any way?! I mean, he doesn't even have anything to fight with...!"

"Well, fighting you wouldn't be fair, you're immortal...you have healing properties, this fight ends when the other is unable to stand back up anymore...and it's unlikely you'll ever need to do that..." He explained, "I may be magic, but at least I can get hurt..."

She grumbled quietly, bubba flipped her around so she'd face him, and pressed their foreheads together tenderly.

"Hey...i'll be fine...", he winked at her, " I can handle myself...don't worry..."

He felt her hands reach up and grab the sides of his face, her hands still felt cold, he shivered a slight bit to her touch but still didn't remove his smile from her. She looked worried, even if he would seemingly prefer to turn them in rather than kill them, she didn't trust his word at all.

He kissed her cheek gently, "Hey c'mon, have a little faith in me...we're gonna get out of here...promise..."

She then pulled him in for a soft kiss, which earned a groan from the group of wizards behind them, marceline removed herself from the kiss briefly to turn around and give a dirty look towards them.

"Oh grow up...", she then went back and reconnected their kiss.

He gave her a few small pecks, then pulled away holding onto her shoulders.

"I'll be fine...let's do this ok..." He gave her one last reassuring kiss on the forehead then let go and presented himself forward, "Ok, fine...we'll fight...but you need to get me a weapon...it wouldn't be fair to fight with only my fists..."

He glared at him, "In fact...how about no magic at all? It only seems fair the two of us be at equal odds am i correct?"

The leader looked like he would oppose to this suggestion, although then again, this unusual suggestion slightly intrigued him a bit. He walked forward as well and crossed his arms, "What exactly are you suggesting?"

"Can you swordfight?", bubba asked politely, "Surely you guys know other ways of combat then simply zapping people?". He stood his ground, "C'mon, it's only fair for us to combat without usage of unnatural abilities..."

Bubba watched the group shift nervously, perhaps worried their leader would blow up.

"Fine...", he replied, slightly irritated.

Bubba felt extremely relieved when both were presented with normal average swords to challenge each other with, and silently thanked finn for allowing them to practice fighting together.

Marceline stood off to the side, keeping a close eye on her enemies for any tricks, the leader took a moment to glare at her before admiring his sword and getting into a position. Bubba shifted uncomfortably, but continued to stand his ground at his end.

"No mortal has ever attacked me like you did..." Leader mentioned, "You really did a number for such a soft guy...i give you credit..."

"Thank you?", bubba said, "But it's nothing...when you're a prince, defending yourself is something you have to learn...and well, I didn't really like the way you were talking to me and marceline very much..."

He got into position, raising his sword.

"If you pull anything, trust me, marceline will know...", he threatened, marceline flashed her fangs.

"Oh i have no doubt...", he replied, "But i suggest you keep your threats to yourself if you wish to have your friend released..."

Bubba kept quiet, a group wizard then shot up a flame and the swords clicked together in an instant.

Marceline had seen bubba fight like this before, but never for his life, or at least never in such an intense way. Guess all that time he spent with finn came in alot of handy, although it was clear finn was nothing like this opponent.

The leader didn't seem like he knew much about sword fighting, or at least he did and no longer did very well with it.

Bubba took deep breaths, using all his strength in order to try to disarm his opponent safely, bubba had no plans to injure him any further then he did the other day. He heard amazement around him when the leader fell to the ground, disarmed.

"Best two outta three..." He said immediately, standing up embarrassed, "Then it ends..."

Marceline, who'd been about to hug the prince for his victory, instead gave the leader a dirty look, "Hey, you can't just change the rules halfway through the match, bubba won, fair and square..."

But bubba calmed her down, "it's fine marceline...don't worry...if he says three rounds, then i'm just fine doing another to end this...". She backed off and the leader got his sword back unhappily.

"Remember, play fair...", bubba said, turning around and getting back into position.

The leader probably would've hit him if marceline wasn't there.

When the swords clicked together again, bubba didn't feel nervous anymore, he seemed rather confident in once. It was only a few more minutes into this round however, when a shout could be heard from another section of the cave.

Another group member ran out from the darkness, panicked and interrupting the fight before him.

The leader looked even angrier now, he stopped his fighting and walked over to his panicked comrade, "Gerid! You were supposed to be watching the captive! What in glob's name are you doing over here?!"

"I-I turned away for a few seconds and...and she's gone!", he said, breathing rapidly.

"She can turn invisible! You know that..." he scolded, "Get back and make sure that's she's still there...don't interrupt me for false alarms..."

"But her magic cage was open..." Gerid whimpered, "It was completely wide open..."

That was when the leader turned around quickly to find the prince on the vampire queen's back and leaving the cave as quickly as possible, he turned back to his crew, who'd been too focused on the missing captive to notice the two leaving.

"Don't just stand there, GET THEM!"

They ran to the front of the cave, only to be greeted by a sudden blast of ice, blocking the entire entrance of the cave, and chilling the cave's occupants to the bone. The torches went out, leaving them in the dark.

"BLAST THE ENTRANCE!"

-

Marceline and bubba hid behind ice king as he ice blasted the entrance to keep the group in as much as possible. Marceline looked around, "Where's jess? Finn, bonnie and jake should've snuck her out by now, they're still wearing the invisible gear bonnie built right?"

"Yes, we're here...", bonnie reappeared next to her, along with her friends, finn and jake. Jess reappeared next to them, wearing a protective cloak to keep the sun off her face and body.

"Thanks for coming to get me...", she said, smiling," those weirdos aren't great hosts".

"Well, they're gonna be even worse if we can't keep them there long enough till the authorities get here to arrest them for kidnapping, attempted murder, and destroying public property...", she said, "These guys are in alot more trouble with wizard city after that stunt they pulled".

She put a hand on jess's shoulder, "We're not going to let them take you in, we'll find any way we can to help you out..."

"Thanks...that...that means alot to me..."

"You didn't kill anybody right?", bonnie asked suddenly.

"No, no...trust me, I never ended up doing anything bad, I just kinda got involved with the wrong people...", she replied quickly.

"Well, when you two are done with your chat...we kinda need to help simon!", marceline interrupted, the ice wall was taking quite an impact, it wasn't going to last long as ice bits fell off and the ice cracked.

"Should we summon hunson?", pb asked.

"My dad is a **** ** _last resort_** bonnie..." Marceline grumbled, " No, we need to do something else...something quick, that ice is not gonna hold them much longer, me and bubba distracted them as long as we could..."

"I can help...", jess offered, " I can at least draw something to keep them in longer..."

They all looked between each other and nodded, marceline bit her lip "Sure, but it better be good cause there's alot of magic users in there, and any second now one of those idiots is gonna remember they can just magic themselves out of the cave..."

She was handed her sketch pad and pencil and began working as fast as possible.

A large crack suddenly appeared on the ice wall, they were almost free.

"HURRY UP! THESE GUYS FREAKING OUTNUMBER US!", marceline said, moving herself to stand right in front of bubba and simon, ready to protect them at all costs.

"almost there...DONE!" She shouted, standing back.

A wall manifested in front of the ice wall, with an odd glow about it. Jess looked at everyone, "It's magic proof, they can't blast something or destroy anything made from anti-magic, it should keep then in..."

"But...how do we get them out then?" Bubba asked, "You can't get rid of it, and the magic authorities sure as heck can't do it if it's made of anti-magic, how are they going to get out of the cave...?"

Jess didn't answer.

"You don't know do you?", bonnie asked.

"I was in a rush...i-i didn't have time to think..." She said, guiltily, "I-I uh...we have to do something! We can't just leave them in there! We...we need something physical in order to get them out!"

"Easy...i'll just bust it open..." Marceline stepped forward, but as soon as she started to transform her arm, it hit the sun's ray's a bit, those gloves were sure to be destroyed when she transformed, so much for that idea.

Bubba ran to her side when she hissed in pain a bit.

"We need to do something else...", he suggested, he looked to bonnie, "Just call the authorities...jake can smash the wall...problem solved...". Then his head turned suddenly at the sound of lots of thumping from the other side of the wall..."

"You think this'll hold me?!" Came a shout, " You tricked me! And you're done for after this...all of you..."

Marceline shouted back, "Yeah, i'd like to see you try!"

It was silent before and rumble came and a dent appeared in the wall, making them all back up. Ice king immediately fly in front of them , " Awww c'mon! And they say _**i'm**_ the crazy one around here! "

No one looked more astonished then jess though, "But...but how?!"

"Forget how, we need to get out of here as fast as possible!" bonnie screamed at them, finn and jake getting into fighting positions behind her. " I'll call the morrow and we can...we can got to...", she stumbled, loss for words.

"No! We have to fight, we have to end this...now!", bubba said, " Bonnie...get hunson, no butts...we need to take any risk we can to end this right now, and we aren't gonna put you guys in anymore danger by running away..."

"Bubs you're still injured!", marceline fussed, "Sure you might've been able to fight that leader dude, but he's not very good at fighting! And he's sure as heck not gonna use a sword this time!"

He looked towards marceline, " Look...if anything happens to me, I...I really want you guys to know how thankful I am...for everything that you guys have even done for me...and that despite everything, my time here was something special, and i wouldn't trade it for the world..."

He was starting to tear up a little, "Hey...marceline?"

"Yeah...?"

"If I get beaten out there...promise me you'll still go tell my friends about me, tell them everything...", he said, "You and jess are immortal, you're more likely to make it through this and..."

She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a hug," Never say that...we promised we'd get you home, and that is exactly what i plan to do, no matter what...you'll see them again...trust me..."

He hugged her back as the wall burst open behind them, a large group walking out, looking like the worst of an angry mob.

Bonnie turned invisible, sneaking away to find some place safe to begin the ritual.

Bubba picked up his sword off the ground and stood with finn and jake, and marceline took his side, still being careful of the sun's ray above her.

" That barrier was anti-magic!", jess shouted at them, " How did you even penetrate something like that?! You guys have got to be freaking crazy! Anti-magic usually weakens wizards..."

They looked between each other, "Wizards can't create anti-magic...how does one create anti-magic with magic? The only ones of that ability are those who have physical properties of anti-magic..."

"So...so i-?"

"Didn't make an anti-magic wall to keep us in ? Correct, i believe your magic reality bending ways are really starting to falter...that's quite tragic, guess you aren't as powerful as you thought you were...", he crossed his arms, "Or as we all did..."

"Look...let's get this straight, you're not gonna take her..." Marceline said, intervening, " You think cause you guys are so powerful you're just gonna destroy us, and take her and everything is gonna be peachy after that...but it's not. You guys were so greedy and so full of hate towards us that you morons ended up destroying your reputation and parts of your freaking city! "

Bubba stepped forward, " I made a mistake too...I was so conflicted and upset, I left my home...and I've spent my time here worried sick about my friends and my kingdom and everything because I left them...sure, it's not bad here...but i put myself and maybe even them...in danger..."

He eyed marceline, and back to them, " Just come quietly, can't we just handle this conflict like mature adults?"

"Why should we? _**You**_ are responsible for ruining us!" He screamed, " We were only trying to do what was right, and you both made us out to be the bad guys! That creature is too powerful, she could do anything...destroy anything...there's a reason the city spent so long trying to find her.."

"But she can do so much with her power! She could help in so many ways!", marceline argued, " You guys are so scared of what she is and what she can do, but none of you have even _ **tried**_ to understand or help her.."

"You can accuse us all you want for helping her or protecting her, but we're only doing so because she's helped us, and...she's going to get me back home...", bubba said, sadly, " Look, things you don't understand are scary, so is being alone, or the future...but you can't let stuff like that ruin your life...if i did that, i might not be here today..."

he sighed, holding back tears,"i'm sorry we did this to you, and i'm sorry about your home and everything...but if you stop this fight from happening, she could help you... ** _we_** could help you.."

He nodded towards jess, "She could fix the entire city easily, save others, you guys could never go hungry again...she has a gift, she's one of you...despite being part vampire, please...let's not let it escalate to this.."

It was almost hard to tell, but the leader actually seemed to be considering what he said.

" It may be the law to take her in, but sometimes...you gotta break a few eggs to do what's right...", everyone had stopped preparing themselves to fight long ago, all looking at bubba as he spoke.

"And maybe...maybe it's time...that we stop the feuding between the candy kingdom and wizard city for good, bonnie may not agree with your customs, but it's clear she and the grand master can work together...", bubba said, "enough isolating your city...it's time for a change that'll benefit you guys, and possibly the whole world of Ooo..."

He dropped his sword, " Let's forget this feud...and start over..."

He reached out his hand.

The leader stared at it, "Why do you even want to make amends with me?"

"Because it takes a big man to fight, but it takes a bigger man to not...", he replied, "Please...let's not let it come to this..."

Bubba was sure that he would have backed down, not if the entire situation had been interrupted by a large booming noise and the ground shaking a bit. Bubba stumbled and marceline caught him before he fell as everyone looked around, frightened.

"Bonnie did it, my dad's coming...", marceline said, "W-we better go..."

"But I just-we need to make amends, your dad is gonna suck their souls!", pg stood up, "We can't set him on them, I was so close to getting us to end this...". He looked at the leader, "I'm so sorry...i-i didn't..."

"C'mon...we gotta go...", marceline picked him up bridal style in her arms, finn rode out on jake, jess followed them after, and simon took one look at the dark clouds in the sky and decided to go home quickly, "I'm out...i'll see you guys later..".

Marceline got bubba out of there before the clouds circled in the sky around the group of wizards.

When they were far enough, marceline put the prince down, but he tried to make a run for it, in which she grabbed his arms and held him back.

"Bubba no! There's nothing we can do, my dad ain't gonna listen to you or me, we can't do anything about it...", he still continued to struggle though, refusing to give up just yet on saving them.

"Marceline, I got them to listen, i actually got them to listen and understand...we can help them...I know we can...w-we can't just...we can't let this go through anymore...we..if there's any chance we can fix things between them without anyone getting hurt, we should take it...", he argued.

"Bubba, my dad's like...impossible to stop, he's deathless...", she said, "Why do you think we would only summon him as a last resort?! There's nothing we can do to help them..."

"Well that's true if we just stand here...", he managed to break free and run off, marceline chased after him. Feeling a bit irritated and really concerned that bubba was walking into his own death, she kept close to him.

"Bubba, c'mon...what do you think you're going to do?", she argued with him, "My dad doesn't really listen to anyone..."

"You're his daughter, **** ** _you_** have to try!", he took her hand and dragged her as he tried to find the group before it was too late to do anything to help. "C'mon, please...try and help them, for me...?"

She looked at him sadly, "You sure we can't just let my dad destroy them?"

"Please?", he was giving her that puppy-eyed look and he knew she couldn't resist that. "If you don't, you know i'll try to do it on my own anyway...", He said, "C'mon...at least let us try..."

She reluctantly pressed their foreheads together, sighing and fake-pouting, "Ok fine...i'll help you...but i swear, you better not make me regret this...". He thanked her and quickly got onto her back, "uhm...you mind uh...".

"Flying you? Sure pipsqueak, but you better hang on...you've never had me fly you like this before...". He wrapped his arms around her neck, "Fionna has er...carried me piggyback before...but well...nevermind...just don't let me fall..."

"I never do..."

-

It wasn't exactly hard to find hunson and the group of wizards, between the dark clouds in the sky, the spells being shot into the sky, and the forming of a giant demon, they could been seen for miles.

Marceline couldn't see his face, but she knew bubba's face was a combination of awe and terror right now. She better keep him close in order to keep him safe, her dad didn't really hurt anyone she didn't want him to, but you could never be too careful.

The group of wizards were shooting spell after spell, desperately trying to harm the creature before he did any damage to them. Not that they were having much success, the spells basically bounced right off him with no problem whatsoever.

Bubba gulped when the demon finally went into full form of a terrifying monster, until l marceline landed on the ground in front of him, making him shift instead into a much more normal demon, blue skin, pointy ears like hers, and wearing a suit.

Bubba got off marceline carefully, never taking his eyes off her father, worried if he did, it would be all over for him.

Hunson looked rather delighted to see marceline however, he threw up his arms in the air and attempted to give her a hug, "MARCELINE! Ahhhh, it's so great to see you pumpkin, hows my little girl?"

Bubba might have laughed if he wasn't so terrified right now.

"DAD!", she tried to resist, but he pulled her into a tight hug, she turned red. "Ahhhh...it's been a long time, your friend bonnie summoned me, something about some souls up for grabs? It's very sweet of her...", he said, "She's disgustingly cute however...but otherwise...she's quite nice.."

That's when he leaved over and noticed a familiar pink being behind her.

"Speaking of such, who is this marceline? I don't believe we've met..."He looked him up and down before holding out his hand to shake, bubba carefully took it, making eye contact with him the entire time.

The group of terrified wizards behind them stared at the trio, unsure of what to do.

Marceline got between them, being protective of her friend.

"Dad, this is um...this is bubba, he's uh...been living with me, we're uh...together...", she mumbled, unsure of her own father's reaction about this. However, hunson didn't seem bothered by this, maybe it was because she'd been with stranger people in the past, or maybe it was because compared to all her past relationships, this guy didn't look like he'd try anything...

Bubba calmed himself down, "Marceline...er...found me, took me in...we've been living together for awhile..."

"You related to the candy princess?", hunson asked suddenly.

"Something like that..."

Marceline coughed, "Anyway...dad, uh...it was kinda a mistake, the whole..."suck these guys' souls" thing, we uh...we don't really need your help, we can kinda handle this ourselves and uh..."

"Yes..", bubba chimed in, "It was a pleasure officially meeting you, but i'm afraid we don't require your assistance, me and uh...marceline are going to handle this ourselves...". He smiled in an odd manner, trying not to look freaked out, "Perhaps we can er...hang out some other time...?"

"Oh, but I only just got here...", he drawled, "You can't just pull me away from my work for no reason, no, i'm here and since i am...i suppose it's time to feed on some souls...", the wizards tried to look armed and fearless, getting into battle poses.

Marceline blocked him, "No dad, not right now...you're not sucking anybody's souls..."

"Oh marceline, i'm only going to have a few, you know i'll spare your friends, and i suppose...your new _**boyfriend**_ over here...", he ushered to bubba, who was hiding behind marceline the best he could, as if he was trying to not be spotted by the lord of evil.

"Dad, c'mon...look, let's not do this right now, just go back to the nightosphere..." She argued, " We can handle this issue ourselves,you know i can take these guys by myself, i don't need you to help right now...can you just...head back...?"

"Oh marceline, i'm afraid i'm not interested in going back right now, i only just got here and i can't remember how ling it's been since i was on the land of Ooo", he scoped the scene around him, "It's changed quite a bit..."

"Dad you were here not even 10 years ago...",Marceline groaned, hunson still didn't budge however. "Deeply sorry marceline, but I heard these fellows were harming you, and i'm afraid I need to do something about it..."

He walked right past her, and towards the group.

Marceline needed to think of something quick, she certainly couldn't fight him and force him out, there had to be another solution in order to get them safe and unaffected, she needed to distract him or something...

But finn, jake, bonnie, simon...they all left, it was just her and bubba to handle this situation...

Clearly bubba had been thinking along the same lines as she did because he flat out ran in front of hunson and spread his arms as if making a shield to the group behind them. "We don't want your help...they have not...harmed marceline...", he said, flinching a little due to his current back injury.

"They seemed to have harmed you a bit however...", he said, taking note of his movements of pain, "Come now, me and marceline are demons...you cannot deny us the opportunity to do our job and destroy those harmful to us..."

"But there's another way to go about this..." Bubba said, "We don't need to solve this with violence..."

Hunson pushed bubba out of the way, however, "Fraid that isn't how i work..."

To bubba's horror, hunson resumed by transforming back into his monstrous form, growing even larger and looming over his victims. Marceline flew up and tried to hit him, but he ignored her, and the group fell to the floor, like empty shells, then they got up like mindless zombies.

Souls...gone.

Marceline flew to bubba, who couldn't hide his terrified face.

"We have to cut open his soul sack...they aren't gone...we just need to release them...", she said, "Ugh, i'm sorry my dad is such a wad...c'mon...we better go find my friends, it's gonna be alot harder taking him down without help.."

"Are you sure bringing our friends into this is a good idea?", bubba said, never taking his eyes off the the demon lord.

"Well, if we don't, everyone in Ooo ain't gonna be feeling well without a soul..." She said, "Besides...he won't harm anyone I told him to, so we got a much better shot than anyone else out there..."

"And besides...", she put a hand on his shoulder, "They've done it before...they can do it again..."

-

Finn and jake had retreated to the tree house, along with bonnie and jess, who were shifting nervously on the couch. Bubba and marceline had yet to join them and that itself made them feel very empty.

"We gotta go out and find them!", jake suggested, "Hunson probably ate them or something, oh glob..."

"I doubt hunson ate them...", bonnie said, "But they should've joined us by now, something isn't right...". She pondered over what could be keeping them so long when her phone went off, she pulled it out and let out a sigh of relief.

"It's marceline..." She said, she put the phone up next her ear before jake stretched out and took the phone instead.

"WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!?", he shouted into the phone, "WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR HIDE AND SEEK!". Bonnie took the phone back from him and gave him a look, "Marceline I swear...what happened?"

"We need to stop my dad, that's what!", a voice shouted back.

"What do you mean? He got the souls right? He said he'd go back...", she said, scratching her chin.

On the other end, marceline was facepalming, " Bonnie, my dad doesn't always tell the truth you know...you told me you had a back up plan for this situation earlier didn't you? What was it?"

"Oh, you mean after breakfast, well i was certain we wouldn't end up in this situation so...", everyone in the treehouse slowly turned to her and giving her a look. Jake was startign to really panic now, finn attempted to comfort him unsuccessfully.

"Bonnie, c'mon! We gotta get him back in the nightosphere! And release those souls!", she said, "You really just plan on sitting there while my dad goes for the candy kingdom? Cause just because he might go for you doesn't mean your people are gonna be living peachy..."

"Marceline, why do you even care!?", bonnie said, "You normally don't care if your dad does this stuff..."

"Well, bubba cares...and well...it would kinda suck...if everyone was mindless zombies i guess...", she mumbled, "Look, are you in or out? Me and finn have done this before, and we can do it with or without you..."

Bonnie looked at a shrugging finn, "Ugh, yes fine...it was kinda obvious anyway...where are you guys? We're all in the treehouse, we've been waiting for you guys, you had us worried sick.."

"Look, we tried to stop my dad and...nevermind, just meet us at the candy kingdom...", she said, "Your gumball guardians should at least help put up enough of a fight against him to keep him busy so we can release those souls and get him outta here.."

"Marceline, your dad could easily crush the guardians if he wanted to, are you sure that's a good idea?", bonnie asked, "If just you and finn could do this, then are you sure it's a good idea to just use my kingdom's most powerful defense against him?"

"Well, it already happened once, I don't think he's gonna fall for it again..." She grumbled, "But fine, whatever...have it your way bon, it's not like we have any other powerful method to handle this..."

Bonnie grumbled from her end, "You owe me so much if i agree to do this..."

"What about her?", finn said, pointing at the vampire who was pacing around the room in worry now. Bonnie's eyes lit up, "YES! DUH! You can create anything! You could easily just us your magic to keep hunson in place!

Jess didn't seem to agree with this.

"No...I can't...it failed...I failed to keep them in, how can I be expected to handle a demon if i can't even keep a gang of wizards from escaping...?" , she said miserably, "You heard what they said, my magic is nothing..."

"Oh c'mon that's ridiculous...I mean, you brought a fictional character to life! This one flop isn't your fault, everything has a limit...even magic...", she put a hand on her shoulder, "We need you to help us, your gift can do wonders...for everyone.."

"But you don't even believe in magic!", she said, "Why should I trust you?"

Bonnie stepped back, "Well...we might not believe in the same things but...i've seen what you can do, maybe i don't believe it the same way you do, but whether it's magic or not...it's not something to be taken for granted..."

Jess hugged her arms, not sure how to respond, so bonnie kept talking.

"You really did good y'know, bubba being alive, and making marceline happy...it's...it's really nice to see her happy...", she hugged her arms as well, "Don't regret what you did for them..."

"I never knew my powers could...could do that...", she muttered, "I thought my powers were limited to art..."

"See? There is so much about your powers you don't know yet!", she exclaimed, before she calmed down enough to just give off a comforting smile, "I'm sorry I took part in hunting you down, I though you were a criminal but you're really just a powerful wizard they wanted in control of...and...I hope after this...you won't have to live in isolation of wizard city anymore..."

She paused for a bit, before sighing, "You really think i could help take down a demon with my powers?"

"Girl, if you set your mind to it, you can do anything...I managed to create a kingdom full of loving citizens, cure's for vampirim and zombisim, been able to go into space...you can't let people bring you down for a bump...everyone's gonna make mistakes...but you gotta keep pushing through and prove those wads just how amazing you are..."

This seemed to cheer the vampire up, earning the princess a smile.

"Then let's go save those jerks..."

-

Marceline and bubba had been keeping pretty close with hunson, not that he was really hard to miss, but they at least needed to know of his location so they could let their friends know where to find him and which kingdoms were in serious trouble.

Marceline kept grumbling to herself, not sure whether to be more angry with her dad or bonnie right now. Bubba grasped her hand, trying to cam her down despite his clear panicking whilst watching her dad terrorize the land of Ooo.

"Ugh, bonnie better hurry up...it won't be long before he finds his way to the nearest kingdom and scars them all for life...", she grumbled under her breath, "Ugh...i'm sorry my dad's a jerk, the guy doesn't care much about preserving life..."

"No no...don't ...apologize on his behalf, he's a demon and well...I guess i expected nothing less...", he said, "We can still save everyone he's soul-sucked...and well...he seems ok? for a lord of evil.."

She giggled a little, "ok? Honestly that's the funniest description I've heard for him from someone shaking in their boots...most people in the nightosphere think of him as the most horrifying being in all of Ooo...but then again...you caught him on a better day..."

" ** _THIS_** is him on a **_BETTER_** day?", he exclaimed.

She laughed, before she saw her dad stop in his tracks, they'd been hiding at the edge of the woods watching him trample a field, and making sure he didn't harm any living thing in there before their back-up arrived.

"What's he doing?", bubba said, before hunson turned around to where they were hiding.

"He knows we're following him...ugh, if I had my freaking bass I could give him a thing or two...", she grumbled, "And before you scold me, remember that he can't die...he'd be just fine..."

"Well, he's staring at us and it's really weirding me out...", he said, " Please tell me he isn't planning on attacking us..."

"He isn't planning on attacking us, trust me, it's more like...intimidating us cause he can tell we plan on trying to take him out...", she said, "I mean, I've meet scarier beings than him, so this dumb junk won't work on me, but he really doesn't want to be sent back..."

"You said you and finn did this before, right? How?", he asked her, still keeping an eye on hunson, who gave them one last dirty look before moving again. This caused the royals to get up and run after him, he was fast, too fast.

"Well...we uh...used one of my songs, it kept him busy...", she muttered, "But i don't have my axe bass so i don't think we can really do that again..."

Bubba stopped panting, "Ok...fine...a different distraction then...how about that?", marceline looked towards where he was now pointing to see a large orange dog with a group of people on his back.

"It's about time bon..." marceline muttered.

Jake charged and the group jumped off of him and at their target, finn was carrying a larger magical sword, and everyone seemed to be wearing armor, and based on the odd aura surrounding jess, she had made them all.

Hunson was slightly taken off guard by all these tiny warriors falling on his face and trying their hardest to get a hit in, he tried to brush them off as if they were flies, but then he got a huge hit to the gut from a large lazer canon the princess was holding.

He roared in anger, and marceline and bubba took this as a sign that they needed to perform the portal spell soon, but not until the soul sack was opened.

Finn, of course, was the one who was trying to do just that, but he was having an awfully hard time holding onto his face in order to make his mark, for the demon was moving way too much.

And it caused finn to fall off and be caught by jake before he toppled to the ground.

Jess was flying in the air, eyes were now glowing, and she began drawing a solution...which didn't last long as hunson managed to get a hit in and knocked her from the air and onto the grass.

"JESS!", bubba instantly ran towards her as her hat had fallen off and she was now burning in the sun.

But then hunson aimed towards the fallen vampire, but not until bubba pushed her out of the way and put himself in the crossfire.

Marceline felt herself freeze after what happened next, bubba's soul was immediately extracted from his body, and his body became a hallow shell. But it wasn't just her, everyone was looking at the scene in disbelief.

And that's when marceline broke.

She screamed in anger before she felt herself transform, fangs getting bigger, growing fur, and becoming just as large as hunson was. She snarled at her father, and lunged at him as bonnie was pulled off by a long orange hand.

Jake made his body into a house and put jess, finn, bonnie, and bubba inside. Bubba's body moaned, and refused to sit still, jess was still unconscious, so she wouldn't be any help right now.

The ground was shaking as the two giant monsters fought, frighting everyone, bonnie was holding onto her head, "This is so bad, oh god...marceline is going berserk out there, she's gonna kill herself fighting out in the sun like that..."

"What about bubba?", finn said, "We can't let him stay like this...we have to save him.."

"Finn, there's no way we can get close to this fight, you'll get killed out there...we have to...we have to...I-I don't know?!", bonnie exclaimed, before a loud hiss made everyone jump, marceline felt as if she was on fire fighting like this, her rage keeping her from hiding.

Her father saw this, and tried to stop her, "Marceline! You're burning up!"

"I don't care...I-I just need to-just need to...she felt herself grow weaker and shrink down to normal size before she collapsed onto the ground. She felt sick and then everything became dark.

-

Marceline eyes fluttered open, she couldn't see anything, she didn't feel like moving.

"She's awake! Marceline's awake!"

She blinked away the blur to see bubba sitting next to her, normal bubba, holding her hand and crying tears of joy as her kissed her face over and over again. "Marceline! Finally! You were so badly damaged out there...ugh...never do that to me again..."

"Bubs? You're...you're ok!", she exclaimed, before pulling him into a hug, "Oh glob...what happened?! Did you defeat my dad?! ". He hugged her back gently, "No...actually...we kinda let everyone go...all the souls..."

She let him go and gave him a disbelieving look.

"I know...it's kind of a stretch, but how else you you think i got here?", he giggled and brushed some hair out of her face, " I'm fine though...i promise...but you...you were fading away fast...we have to get you here as quickly as possible..."

"I can self heal...", she grumbled.

"It was better we got you indoors to heal...", he said, that was when marceline noticed she was in the hospital wing of the candy kingdom. She also looked around to see that bubba wasn't the only one surrounding her bed.

Finn and jake shared a bed next to hers, no doubt due to whatever injuries they received fighting her dad. They were both fast asleep, and she couldn't blame them, she felt pretty tired herself.

Bonnie was on the seat to her other side, smiling at the two of them, not wanting to interrupt their moment. Jess was sitting up in the bed on her other side, rubbing her head, and oddly enough, talking to a familiar gang of wizards who were for once _**not**_ destroying anyone or anything.

But the most shocking thing was her dad sitting at the foot of her bed, not harming anything and looking at bubba with a soft expression on his face. He seemed actually pretty happy about bubba's treatment toward her oddly enough.

"Dad?"

"Hello marceline..."

"How did you- why are you-?", she didn't know what to ask first.

"I'm sorry marceline...about what happened...", he started, "I um...I let your weird friends go...i mean, they all seem ok? Er...how are you feeling marceline? you er...you were really doing bad out there..."

"Good as new...", she said, looking him up and down, " You stopped fighting me..."

"You're my daughter marceline...i couldn't let you die out there...not because of me...", he said, "It er...it was horrifying... even for me..."

"You stopped because of me?", she looked rather surprised at this, considering how many times her dad never listened to her before. She rubbed the side of her face, "Er...I...you've never..."

"I'll leave...back to the nightosphere i suppose, I think you found someone else to take care of you...", he motioned towards bubba, marceline turned bright red, before crossing her arms.

"Dad...I can take care of myself...", she muttered.

"I know...", he said, attempting a smile, "I'll see you soon...marceline"

Bonnie stood up to escort him out, along with a few banana guards for good measure.

Marceline looked as if she still had a hard time processing what just happened, "Geez, what happened when i passed out? It's like the whole world changed...ugh, you sure i'm not dead?", she joked.

"Yeah...i'm sure...", bubba ruffled her hair, "He let us go...because it was what you wanted...I guess he felt guilty when you almost died...and well...". He felt her arms go around his neck and pull him into another hug.

"You really freaked me out y'know...ugh...don't do that again...", she grumbled, earning her a laugh. "What? Don't save our friend? Tsk tsk marceline...I didn't think you were so savage and selfish..."

She punched his shoulder, "You know what I meant..."

"Anyway, their gonna try and help jess join their society...and they plan on serving time for their crimes...", he nodded towards the group of wizards, who were chatting to jess about what marceline could only assume was the experience of fighting the lord of evil.

Marceline shot him another skeptic look, and he gave her another playful smile, "I'm serious...I guess they figure they can take whatever punishment they get, and afterwards...with her help, they could live better lives..."

He hugged her tightly, "And tomorrow...i'm finally going to go home..."

She grinned, "It took forever...but you're gonna see them again...I guess you're pretty excited huh?", despite the smile, she sounded a little sad.

"Well, i'd be even more excited...if you'd accompany me?", he asked, "I want you to see my home, and meet my friends...and...if you want...you can move in with me this time...if you want though..."

She laughed, reaching up to hold his cheek, then she cried along with her laughing. Bubba froze, unsure if something was wrong or not based by her reaction, until her lips slowly met his and they kissed gently.

"Dude...i'm gonna pack my things right away...as long as it works...", she said, parting their lips, "It better work i swear..."

He hugged her tight, "I'll make sure it will...I promise..."

-

It was hard to sleep that night, heck it was hard to even relax at all with the thought of tomorrow.

Bubba spent the night instead talking about his friends and everything he planned on doing tomorrow with her, he didn't care how many meetings he had to skip or how much work he'd have to miss, it didn't matter...

He was going home...

And marceline was coming with him.

It was 6 am, neither had slept, they got dressed immediately. Marceline didn't plan on moving in today, considering all the stuff she'd have to get out of this house, and considering magic was tricky and might have a hard time working...

But if it did, packing would definitely be a challenge.

Bubba flew piggyback on her once again, but this time she was flying much slower, as they viewed the sights below them. Everything looked really beautiful from up here, and he couldn't help but stare at all of it.

"When i get home...", he started up again, making her laugh and roll her eyes, "The first thing i'm going to do is show you my friends, all of them, and ugh...it's going to be so hard to explain all of this to them...they'll think i'm crazy..."

She laughed again, "Y'know...when we first met...I thought you were totally bonkers...". He gave her a teasing look, earning him another laugh from her, "Hey...when you fins an unconscious guy in the middle of the woods shouting about being a prince...it kinda comes to mind...". He hit her shoulder gently as they got closer to the candy kingdom, where bonnie was waiting for them.

"I used to think the world was always against me...", he said, "That nothing ever went right for me...but after today...that's all going to change , i'm not the same prince I was when I was written in that book..."

She teased him, "Oh yeah hotshot? How do you feel?", he hit her slightly in order to tease her back, making her giggle. "I feel alot better...like...like i can almost do anything right now...heh..."

"Good...just stay positive bubs...", she said, "Just keep positive..."

Their arrival at the candy kingdom was wonderful, as it seemed as if the entire kingdom had came to greet them, it was a rather large crowd of sweet citizens. The tried to weave their way in the crowd into the candy castle as the people clapped and cheered for them. Bubba looked rather excited especially, this might not be _**his**_ kingdom, but he hadn't been treated almost like royalty in a long time.

He even picked up a small gumdrop kid and playfully tossed them up in the air before putting them back down on the ground with a grin.

He tried to stay close to marceline as best her could however, as the crowds made it hard to walk through.

When they entered the castle the doors closed behind them, they were finally free of the crowd and could now make their way to the princess, who they could only assume was either working out the minor details of getting this spell to work...or something science related.

"You're really great with them y'know...the candy people...", marceline mumbled, "You sure they're even gonna like me? I mean, i'm not exactly the perfect princessy weirdo they were probably expecting you to date.."

"Well, that's kinda what I like about you...", he said back, "And well...I honestly think you'd do alot more good for them than harm...and besides, i'm their prince...they _**have**_ to like you..no matter what...", he joked.

She tried to laugh too, "No it's just...I really blew up when I attacked my dad, and the wizards, and that chick in the alley...almost...I mean, you actually got those guys to stop...with words...I mean...it's just..kinda badass..."

"You think so?", he asked her, "Well, it's kinda what i'm used to...I've never been much of a fighter, you know that...I always had fionna, or the guards...or anybody that would just save me...I guess it's just not in my nature to fight..."

"Not unless you're trying to protect me...or anyone else you care about...", she said, " I mean...I-I kinda wish i could do stuff like that...i mean, you may get saved by girls all the time, but well...you fight when it's necessary...I could've like...never mind..."

He took her hand, "Hey, don't beat yourself up over it, you didn't end up hurting any of them horribly, and you and I both know you're not a monster...". He proceeded to walk with her slowly, "I wouldn't have had to courage to do this and fight without you..."

"You think so?", she asked, trying to keep calm and look cool.

"Heh, look at me Marcy, could you have honestly seen me fight dangerous wizards, demons, and stand up to threats overall when we first met and I was utterly terrified of you? I mean...I don't exactly well...look like a fighter..."

"Heh, well your pretty tough for a soft guy...", she elbowed him, and then he proceeded to elbow her back, "Well I think you're pretty soft for a tough gal...". They continued to play fight each other throughout the halls when a small candy butler found them and caused bubba to stand up and look polite, while marceline still continued to poke and mess with him, with no interest in looking mature.

"The princess is in the lab...she's waiting for you both...", he ushered them to follow him and it wasn't too much longer till the entered the lab of the princess, who was waiting for them with finn, jake, and jess. They all looked really excited, lighting up when their friends entered the room, finn even went up and hugged the two of them right away, "Heh, hey guys!"

"Wow bon, did you tell all of Ooo about us?", marceline's sarcastic expression and raised eyebrow earned herself a laugh from everyone except the princess herself, who rolled her eyes at the comment.

"Oh c'mon, this'll be a great feat...and if it works...we wanna come too, all of us...", she fixed her lab coat, "You guys didn't honestly think it'd be just the two of you? We helped just as much, i think we should be able to come..."

"Ugh, fine...", she muttered, rolling her eyes, "You can tag along with us...i guess..."

Bubba laughed, "You can all come, the more the merrier!.

Jess held up a familiar F&C novel, "Ice king well... _lent_ it to us...I've spent all night trying to think of the best way to do this though, i mean...I know before i was just trying to change to story to make it better for you, but it changed reality and brought you here...but...what do i write in order to have the world of this book open up to us? I don't wanna screw this up..."

"Well, it ends where i magically was transported here, maybe just write that a portal opened up, leading to this world, and on the other side were us...i don't know, i'm not exactly a writer myself...", pg said humbly.

"I'll try, but i don't really know how this works...so bear with me...", jess said, lowering her pen down to write, being careful with every little mark. "You guys just be caustious, this is still new to me..."

Pg was still holding marceline hand when he saw a glow start to arise it the room, "It's working!" he gleefully said, jake didn't seem to find any of this charming and freaked out right away. He clutched onto finn, "I don't like this...this magic is weird..."

It surrounded them, but then seemed to focus solely on bubba.

That was when marceline noticed something...off.

Bubba's hand seemed to have slipped out of her grip, but it didn't, she looked at his hand that was supposed to be intertwined with hers, it seemed...transparent? She started to panic, "Bubs! Your hand!, and that's when he noticed it too.

"Wh-wha...is this what's supposed to happen...?"

His hand disappeared completely, and now his body was starting to fade as well.

"Jess, what are you writing over there? Fix this!", marceline growled at the now panicked vampire, who was writing desperately to find a way to stop whatever was going on, "I'm trying i'm trying, i just wrote about this room opening a way to the world of the book and..."

"Just fix him!" marceline shouted, she tried to reach out to touch him but her hand went right through him, he was fading and fast.

"BUBBA!", she was starting to cry, what was happening?

 _"Stay, don't leave me, I need you..."_

The words he heard when he was being transported to this world, it was marceline who said them!

He was almost gone, and all he managed before he completely disappeared was three words.

"I love you..."

 _ **And all went silent...**_

 _ **Hey guys! Sorry for the wait! I started college and I was trying to take my sweet time with this and make sure part 1 was worth it's wait.**_

 _ **The ending conclusion will come soon after, so be prepared.**_

 _ **Cya next chapter!**_


	25. The Beginning Of The End, Part 2: Aaa

Bubba mumbled in his sleep, he felt a soft surface underneath him, he must've passed out again. Ugh, he never had so many sleep problems before marceline came into his life, guess she really must've rubbed off of him.

Then he heard someone saying his name faintly, and then felt himself being shook. He buried his face in his pillow and tried to hit and puch back whoever was trying to wake him up, "Marceline, not now...later...".

"Marceline, who's marceline?"

That's when his eyes shot open, the voice wasn't marceline's but it was no doubt still familiar. His brain still felt fuzzy, he rubbed his forehead and forced himself to get up. Then he noticed there were dozens of people around him and his bed, and looking closer, he realized he was in a familiar room.

His bedroom.

He looked around him, this was **_his_** soft bed, **_his_** walls lines with paintings and notes, _**his**_ everything. But then his eyes drawled to the familiar group in the room, there was a girl with blonde hair and bunny hat, a gold and white cat sitting on her shoulder, a small butterscotch butler standing next to a peppermint maid, but the one he started at the longest was the vampire who had been shaking him who now had a relieved look in his eye.

He was home, it **_worked_**.

Before bubba could even react to any of them though, the butterscotch butler wagged her finger at him in irritation, "You're in such big trouble! You left all your guests and ran off to the middle of nowhere! You could have died out there you idiot!", she elbowed the fellow candy servant next to her, "And **_you_** should've done better at keeping him from leaving..."

"I found him, did i not?", she replied, crossing her arms.

He blinked rapidly, unable to believe the sight in front of them, he wasn't sure whether to cry, laugh, or hug them all tightly. This decision resulted in a combination of all three, as he immediately lunged at all his friends, and refused to let them go.

"Oh my god you guys! I missed you all so much! ", he held them all much to tightly and Marshall ended up pushing himself out of the hug, freeing everyone from bubba's grasp. "Dude, is everything alright? You act like you haven't seen us in forever..."

Bubba's eyebrow raised, looking from all his friends, "I-I haven't...I haven't seen you guys in months...I'm sorry i've been gone so long, i promise to get right back to work to make all of it up as soon as i-"

"What you talking bout baby?", Cake spoke up, " You've only been missing for a few hours, I was waiting for my bf, fi went on ahead to see if fp wanted to escort her, and marsh was apparently "Fashionably late"...", she gave the vampire a look, " When we got here, you were long gone...we've all been worried sick..."

Fionna was now playing with her hair in guilt, "Sorry about the fp thing, i should've kinda called ahead, but fp doesn't have a phone and he's really shy and i really wanted him to come with and make friends...", she started to rambled, "And then when we couldn't find you i kinda maybe beat ice queen up cause i thought she had you-"

"Fionna...it's fine, i promise...i shouldn't have overrated...", bubba said, he gulped, so he was brought back the same day he left? No time had passed, it was like he was barely gone at all. He held his head, but he still remembered everything, he groaned as a headache begun to form.

"You ok prince? did you hit your head out there? We found you unconscious on the grass, you were twitching and mumbling "Marceline" for hours! Do you need anything? We can get you something to eat or-?" The small maid suggested.

 _ **Marceline.**_

He looked around the room, eyes wandering everywhere, as if he was expecting to see marceline in the room, hidden maybe, knowing her. His fidgety behavior must've been really bothering his friends, because they all tried to calm him down.

"Marceline, i need to find marceline...i need to get back to her, something must've went wrong with the spell and- And...i don't know, I-I gotta find out what happened and-", the two candy servants tried to keep him from getting out of bed.

"Prince you need to rest, you are not going anywhere else tonight...we sent some others out to find your missing crown, we're worried you were maybe robbed...", the small maid said, which causing pg to feel the top of his head. He completely forgot to grab his crown, he left it at marceline's house, he'd been so used to _**not**_ wearing it that he _**completely**_ forgot all about it.

"Y'know, now that i think about it, I've never seen this outfit he's wearing before...when did he get this? This wasn't what he was wearing to the party was he?", The butler argued, before bubba calmly replied, "No, i-i got this from marceline..."

He was wearing the shirt marceline gave him, a jacket, jeans, and sneakers, all things he had gotten in Ooo. Everything was also soaked, or at least he assumed it had been, then he heard thunder outside.

He must've been passed out in the rain.

Marsh grinned this time at the mention of her this time, "Ooooo, so this marceline girl gave you her clothes did she? Geez, no wonder you vanished, you two must've been __ _ **pretty busy**_ together...", he gave him a wink.

The prince blushed horrible, and was tempted to hit him, "This is not the time for that Marshall lee, something went wrong, and i have to figure out what it is...". He finally managed to stand up, "marcy has got to be worried sick, i mean...i disappeared...right in front of her..."

"Gumball, what'ca talking bout?", fionna said, "Did something crazy happen to you?"

"It's a really long story..." He said, "But i need your help, all of you...i need to find a way to contact marceline, I don't care how ridiculous it is or anything, i need to get her back...". When everyone still gave him a look, he grumbled, "She's my...girlfriend..."

Everyone at first looked awestruck, but that immediately changed into mixes of emotions, Marshall actually looked impressed, fionna looked dumbfounded, cake's jaw dropped, and both candy servants shared the same expression of confusion.

"W-what?! Prince you've been gone a few hours and you already found a potential wife!?", the maid looked excited, "Was she at the ball? Do you know what kingdom she's from?! We can find her right away!"  
 _ **  
Oh right, this ball had been organized to find him a suitor...**_

How can something that happened a few hours ago, feel like forever?

He laughed awkwardly, "Uhhhh, no...she's not from around here...she's not really from a kingdom either actually...look, i can't really explain any of it right now...it would be really hard to explain...or believe..."

He tried to brush past them, but then he flinched, his back stung him a bit. It might have been almost fully healed but if he wasn't careful he would feel a sharp pain, he tried to hide it as he pushed himself past them and tried to leave him room.

But Marshall flew right in front of him, "Dude, we found you in the rain, unconscious, wearing brand new clothes, and now you're telling us you've been gone for months with some girl we don't know and she has your crown...explain _**first**_ ", he crossed his arms and continued to block the doorway, despite bubba's angry expression.

"You guys are gonna have a hard time believing it...", he started, " I mean, Even I had a hard believing it..."

"Well, we'll think your crazy either way, so better you just tell us this biz now or otherwise...", Marshall said , "C'mon dude, you kinda had us all worried and you're rambling about all this crazy weird junk, it's not making us feel any better...you owe us some kind of explanation..."

Gumball sighed, " Ok, fine...", he turned towards the group of worried friends, trying to clam down despite the panic he was currently feeling in his chest. Ugh, i guess he did owe them something, he was once again a prince, and was once again surrounded by his friends from home, it wasn't Ooo with marceline anymore.

"It started a few months ago, or at least a few months for me..."

-

Nobody moved, nobody said a word.

Nobody even knew what to say at all.

Marceline had fallen to the floor, unable to even comprehend what just happened.

What even _**did**_ happen?

"M-marceline?"

Finn looked at his distraught friend in complete worry and fear. Marceline could be like a ticking time bomb sometimes, and clearly bonnie saw the same thing coming as she was now backing up against the wall.

Marceline didn't explode however, instead she cupped her face, and it wasn't long before she started to break out in tears. She wasn't gonna break out, not at her friends, bubba wouldn't want her to do that...

She shivered in place, he was gone, like he had been erased from existence. She wasn't even sure if he was still alive or gone forever as if had never even been here, she didn't even have to heart to look up from the floor at the moment.

Her friends looked at her, mourning their loss before jess interrupted the long silence with a excited gasp, "G-guys!". She got everyone but marceline's attention towards her, and she held up the fan fiction book, which was acting quite peculiar now.

It was writing itself.

Words appeared by magic, as if it was being written, but it wasn't. Everyone but marceline was looking at it in awe before they noticed just what the book was writing, it as continuing the story!

 _ **Bubba was being picked up by his dear friends, all relieved to see him. they trudged through the mud, trying to get him back home safely, he was still asleep and-**_

It kept going, and bonnie immediately grabbed her friend's arm, "Marceline!, it's bubba! He's fine, he's in the book again, look at this!". She dragged her friend over, who although didn't want to move from her spot, still forced herself to look at the book.

Her crying stopped immediately, she snatched the book from their hands and held it in her own, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. then she felt immediate relief in her chest, attempting to smile, "Bubba...".

It worked, bubba was back home once again!

But she wasn't with him...

Jess stood up, "Maybe i can bring him back? Like i did before...?", she suggested, "I'm not sure what i did to the book but we still have a chance of fixing this if we're careful and the spell works properly..."

Marceline gave her the book back, "He's home...where he's supposed to be, I-I don't want us to force him away...I mean, it's kinda rude?". She sniffled, trying to stop looking emotional in front of her friends, who were smiling and winking at her.

She shot them dirty looks before returning to jess, "But if you can get us to see each other again, I think I might prefer that a lot more...". Jess grabbed her pen but before she could write again in the book, it stopped her, the pen couldn't touch the paper, as if a wall was blocking it.

The wizard began to panic, "It's...it won't let me touch it!", she put the book down with a frustrated sigh, "Great, i can't even affect the book...now what are we supposed to do?!". Marceline grumbled, "Well, there has to be **_something_** , i mean...what did you even do to the book anyway?!"

"Like i said, __ _ **i don't know**_...i'm new to this magic...", she replied, frustrated. "Ugh, how did i even get him here in the first place?! Something is super weird with this magic...the book is doing it's own story...bubba's story...i can't change it anymore..."

Marceline picked up the book sadly, "He's thinking about me...", she muttered to herself.

"We're not giving up yet...". bonnie took her shoulder, "This is only a hiccup...we'll figure out how to handle this and then he'll be back as soon as we can, we just need jess to be able to control her magic and figure out how to solve this...promise...". She attempted to comfort her friend, whose eyes never left the book, as if it would disappear forever if she didn't keep an eye on it.

It _**was**_ her boyfriend in there...and there was no telling when he'd get out, or if he could.

No wonder bonnie hated magic, at least science could be controlled (Most of the time).

This was like having him here, but but not being able to interact with him at all, she'd just watch (Or rather read) his life go on and she wouldn't be able to do a darn thing about it. Ugh, she felt conflicted, despite knowing there was a possibility that they'd be separated indefinitely.

"We should get this to a magic expert...have it examined, then we might be able to figure out what went wrong and bring him back...", the princess carefully took the book away from her friend, who mumbled, " ** _And_** allow his world and ours to connect?".

"Yes, **_and_** do just that...", she replied,"Don't worry marceline, he's alive...we're not gonna give this up...".

She grumbled, "Why are you guys so willing to help me? I'm not worth this much...".

"Because you're our friend, and so is he, you don't think we'd honestly leave you guys in the mud right? Even if you drive us nuts, you don't just walk out on a friend...", she said, "Besides, just imagine how amazing it could be to pull this off? Make a fake world real? The possibilities!"

Marceline rolled her eyes.

Bonnie grabbed a outdoors coat, taking off her lab coat and putting it in it's place, "C'mon...we got a grand master to talk to about an enchanted book...". Marceline couldnt help but stare at the book in bonnie's hands as they left.

She could only wonder what bubba would do.

-

By the time bubba finished his story, everyone was giving him a strange look, only exception being fionna, who didn't really seem to find the story nearly as odd or unrealistic as everyone else did. Guess bubba couldn't really be surprised, Fi had been through some pretty crazy things for a human, and in an unpredictable world like this, anything could really happen.

 _Especially considering it was actually a fanfiction..._

Marshall's face was probably the weirdest, he didn't know whether to laugh or to be serious about any of the nonsense bubba was saying. Maybe it was just the fact that them being fictional characters seemed like a stretch, or maybe just the fact that bubba was claiming to have moved in with, and got himself in a relationship with an actual person seemed unlikely for the bubba he knew.

But bubba talked about all this as if he was being serious, and although the vampire king wanted to think he was just messing with him, he knew bubba wasn't exactly a great liar. Bubba was being serious, and it was really starting to freak him out.

When bubba finished, marshall raised his hand as if he was a kid in school, "Hey...bubba, i have a bazillion questions..."

The prince didn't exactly look amused but he still pointed at his friend's hand, allowing him to ask whatever questions he wanted to ask and get them over with. Marshall grinned, "Ok...first off, you're telling me... _ **we**_...are **_characters_**?"

"Well, yeah...", he said, "It's weird I know, i didn't believe it at first either...but our world...is not the way we think it is...". He sighed, "We were made...this world...we were written to be the way we are...", he rubbed the back of his head, "Everything we know...it's different..."

"Does that mean what's going on right now is being written in a book?", fionna asked, raising her hand.

He suddenly bit his lip, that's actually a good question, how was time even moving unless someone had been writing in this book. "I-I uh...I guess they'd have to be but i have no idea for sure who would be writing this..."

His head was starting to throb, someone would have to be writing his thoughts, his feelings, what he was thinking right now...man this was so much weirder when he was back in his world than in marceline's.

He fell to his knees, holding his head, he remembered everything, and his clothes proved it had been no dream. His falling to the floor caused the two candy servants to rush to his side and feel his forehead.

"You need to rest..." Butterscotch told him, "You can't go running off again, look...i don't know about this weird story you're telling me, but right now we just want you to rest and get better...you can worry about it in the morning..."

"I-I can't...how can i relax when i have so many questions? How can i sleep thinking about how i disappeared in front of marceline and that i have no idea how to get back to her again?", he rubbed his throbbing forehead, "I can't rest now...I just can't..."

"Well you have to try, whether you were gone for a few months or not...you're still our prince and we need you to be safe and ok. You're not exactly in the best shape right now, you need to relax and rest...", she coaxed him to stand up and tried to tug him back over to his bed.

He flopped back on his mattress, face first.

He already missed marceline, and her presence, and her dirty laundry spread out all over their floor...

But he couldn't deny he felt extremely tired, and that he really did want to get some sleep...

Marshall, fionna, and cake told the servants to get back to work and assured them they'd keep an eye on the prince and make sure he was well rested tonight. Bubba couldn't exactly evade a vampire, magic cat, and an experienced adventuress.

When they left, bubba flopped onto his back, he felt slight pain, but he didn't let it show.

His friends sat on the bed next to him, marshall crossed his legs and chose not to say anything, despite the fact that he wanted to make more jokes about bubba's story and tease him more about it. Bubba seemed to be taking this all very seriously, and honestly he didn't need him running off again.

Fionna, being herself, tried to make light of the situation and cheer up her friend.

"Heh, you shoulda seen ice queen's face when i took her down, she got all freaked out and we also had to fight an army of ice monsters...and it was super cool cause cake turned into a giant fist and b-", she rambled on, but bubba wasn't really listening, lost in his own thoughts.

Cake slipped herself off fionna's shoulder and over to the prince after changing to normal shape. She put a paw on his forehead, she looked really worried about him, especially since she knew that lovesick look anywhere.

"Fionna?", cake wrapped an arm around her sister and got her attention, "Can you do me a favor and get the prince some food? Poor baby might need something to eat to help him feel better...", she also tapped marshall's shoulder, "And paste face? How about you help her, i can watch the prince for a bit..."

Fionna playfully saluted, "Yeah, sure captain cake! I could get some tea, OOOooo and maybe some sweets?! We could all have a picnic in here!"

Marshall on the other hand raised an eyebrow, " Why do i have to go? Why can't fi just go by herself and get some sn-", he was met by the cat's glare, before she crossed her arms and stretched her face close to his.

"Paste face, go. help. fionna!", she growled at him, making him shudder and leap off the bed.

"Gee, _**fine**_...", he said, holding his hands up defensive, " I didn't realize it was this big a deal...". He grumbled at her and a smiling fionna grabbed his arm and lead him out of the prince's room, the door shut behind them.

Bubba was still staring at the ceiling, and cake sighed.

"Sorry bout that prince...", she said gently, "We were all so worried when you vanished, we thought you'd been kidnapped, or hurt...or worse...". She looked at him sadly, "Sorry we were all so late, we should've been there for you tonight...you shouldn't have been left alone all night..."

Bubba convinced himself to speak, "I was stupid too, I let my emotions get to me as usual...i should've thought of my kingdom, of my friends, living with marceline made me realize that..."

"You know, for the record, I believe you...", she mumbled, "I mean, it's kinda weird...but you've never acted like this before...this girl you're talking about must be something special huh?"

"Yeah...", his answered softly, "We've kinda been through alot together...and I just...I knew there was a possibility i'd return home and we'd never get to see each other again, but i was so sure we could make this work...so neither of us had to be alone again..."

"You like her this much?", she said, "I mean...you're telling me you two were kinda roommates..."

"Emotions are weird...", he muttered, "I mean...it's not weird is it? To imagine what would happen if you and a friend were a couple? I mean...when you're really close with someone...you just can't help but wonder a bit..."

She gave him a faint smile, "But you two are really dating huh?"

he blushed, " We...confessed our feelings to each other, i mean...it was kinda weird for awhile...we sorta had emotional problems and we distanced each other sometimes...it's um..not much fun to talk about..."

Cake was showing so much concern for him that he felt a little better about talking about it, marshall and fionna were past crushes, this would be way more awkward discussed with either of them. Romance was never really something he felt comfortable talking about in the past, mostly cause he just seemed to have bad luck with dating and therefore it made him feel worse.

Cake tried to comfort him, paws patting his shoulder, "Well, if she means this much to you, i'm sure we can figure something out...". She bit her lip, "Sorry bout kicking fi and marshall lee out, but i don't think either of them knew what to say to you bout this..."

"No, it's fine, i get it...but don't be mad at them, i wouldn't know what to say either if it was one of them..", he breathed softly, "But thanks for trying to cheer me up...you guys don't know how much i missed all of you..."

He sat up on the bed, "And it really means alot to me that you actually think i'm telling the truth, i mean...i thought i was going to come home with marceline so she'd back me up but...i really just look like a loony to my friends..."

"Gumball, you ain't a loony...most of the time, i mean...you're still way smarter than any of us...", she argued, "Ok...even I think it's a __ _ **little**_ weird, but then again...we don't exactly live in a normal world..."

She stretched out he body and arms, "I mean, i can do whatever i want with my magic bod and stuff..."

"Well, the weirdest part about marceline's home..."He started, " Is that it's just like being here...but not, you're there, fionna's there...but they aren't...you're different people. I-I thought I knew our home...but everything changed...'

"How do you know...got any evidence prince?", she asked, "I mean, what makes you __ _ **this**_ sure?'

"A book...there was a book...no, there were thousands of books...all of our adventures..", he said, "It tells our lives and stories, word for word, it was one of the scariest things I've ever heard...a chamber, all about us..."

"Well ice queen got her own chamber of fanfics for her own characters...", cake said, "I mean...do you think they could have a world likes ours too? I mean, if you're right about this, who knows how many could exist out there?"

"Maybe...I-I Don't...ugh...", he rubbed his forehead, "Look...i don't really want to talk about it right now...it's alot to think about...". He stood up, still rubbing his throbbing head, "All i care about right now is seeing marceline and my friends again..."

"But bubb-?"

"No cake, that's enough...", he said, "I may be smart, but i don't know everything, that's why i'm gonna need all the help i can in order to get back to her...". He heard footsteps approaching the door and immediately jumped back into bed.

Fionna and marshall lee entered, carrying a load of food, partially stuffing food into their faces. They dropped it into a pile on the bed, making a mess, if bubba hadn't already gotten used to marceline's messes, this certainly would've bothered him much more.

Cake folded her arms across her body, "Y'know...we asked for just some snacks, not _dinner_..."

"You complainin?" fionna said, mouthful of muffin.

"Nope...", the cat grabbed a bunch of elements to make herself a sandwich, and bubba convinced himself to slowly grab the heated kettle they brought up and pour himself some tea. Tea was usually his favorite, it usually soothed him in times of stress, and he did admit...he felt a little better.

His friends hadn't changed, which was expected, considering to them he'd been gone for only a short bit.

But it'd been so long, he almost forgot about them, what they were like.

Guess that's what happens when you get separated for awhile and are forced to live a whole new life...

He ate quietly, at least having something in his stomach helped him feel less sick, but it was clear his mind was elsewhere. Marshall was watching him the entire time, he wasn't sure if it was for concern , or if he thought it would irritate him.

Although marshall was stuffing his face with as much red as he could, since vampires always tended to have red cravings, he tried to show some kindness by giving bubba his grey apple, after finishing off it's red.

Bubba politely took it, and ate a bite.

"You outta rest dude...", marshall then said, "Look, girlfriend or no girlfriend, fanfiction or no fanfiction, you've had a long day...you should worry about it in the morning, you're gonna hurt yourself like this.."

"Marshall, you have no idea just what I've been through...", he said, "Everything is just so complicated...marceline and i should've thought this through, we should've been more careful...now we're separated and i'm just so...conflicted..."

"Bubs...you just got here...from...wherever the heck you said you came from, the 'real' world? Ohh, or something like that?", he did air quotes and bubba gave him his typical annoyed expression.

"It's Ooo...", he corrected, "The land of Ooo...marceline lives in a cave there..."

"Y'know, you describe her to be an awful lot like me...", marshall took note, "It's kinda weird bubba...". Now that he thought about it, their names were similar, their hobbies bubba mentioned were similar, this was getting suddenly more creepy by the minute...

"Trust me, she's nothing like you...", bubba said, "At least not entirely..."

Bubba said nothing else to marshall, and after they all ate, he ushered them out of his bedroom, wanting to be alone for the rest of the night. Although despite his wishes, his friends were unknowingly pinned outside his door and window.

He refused to remove his current clothing, and instead took off his shoes just to sleep in his clothes.

It felt really empty without the familiar presence of his roommate, it was just so... _ **quiet**_ in here, was it always this quiet in his room before? Marceline snored, not loudly, but despite her not being here, he wanted to make sure she was ok and that nothing was wrong.

She was going to tr and get back to him too right? I mean, surely they would continue to try the spell again to get back to him somehow right? Maybe they were having trouble, and that's why it was taking so long?

He felt his eyes droop a little, Marshall was right, he __ _ **did**_ kinda need some rest.

It had only been a few hours or so since he had gotten up from bed with marceline, and now he was going right back to bed in his old room...

"Maybe i can rest for a few minutes...", he mumbled, reaching out to his side, expecting a cold body next to him and finding nothing.

 _ **Tomorrow is a better day~**_

-

After a long day of jess practicing her weird magic on paper, bonnie trying to scientifically interpret the new words written to find some way it could've interpreted the spell into bringing bubba back, and staring at finn and jake who had a permanent face of awe that hadn't left since the book started writing itself, marceline just wanted to go home.

Being here didn't exactly make her feel any better, in fact, she felt useless.

She couldn't perform any magic, do anything logical, or even come up with a good solution as to how to fix this mess. All she could do what sit here and watch and she was itching to do _ **something**_ to get bubba back.

Bonnie was busy with the book, so she couldn't even even read it to see what was even happening with bubba, but in the time they spent together, she could only imagine that he was panicking and desperate to find her, trying to figure out what went wrong.

At least that seemed to make her feel a little better.

Her moping must've become extremely irritating because eventually bonnie stopped to turn and look at her, "Marceline, i'm sorry my work is boring you but this isn't an easy fix at all, we don't understand what's happening..."

She, on instinct, tried to close the book but marceline rushed forward and forced it to still be open. She hissed at the princess, "Don't do that! We don't know what could happen if we close the book! He could get flipping hurt!"

"Ok ok...!", bonnie said, backing up, "I won't close the book!"

Marceline flipped forward to where the most recent page was, it wasn't writing itself anymore and at first she felt sick to her stomach till she saw that the last words that were written explained why the book wasn't continuing.

 _ **Bubba dreamt off to a troubling sleep**_

He was asleep, everything was fine, it wouldn't continue till he woke back up.

Bonnie took the book from her carefully, "Marceline, maybe you should go home for today...you don't have to be here if you don't want to and this is all really freaking you out. You should go home and take your mind off th-"

The vampire queen crossed her arms, "I'm not budging, bubba is in that book and i'm not going anywhere it ain't..."

"You're quite stubborn, did you know that?", Bonnie said.

She still didn't budge, eyeing the book, "I'm serious bonnie, he's in there and I'm not letting him out of my sight...". Bonnie sighed, rubbing her head, "Ok fine...but you do realize that this might take a long time...bringing him back?"

"Yeah..", she said, although she sounded a bit unsure.

"Marceline, we're going to do the best we can and bring him back as soon as possible but there's no guarantee he'll be back anytime soon...it could be weeks, months, and maybe years if we need to...", she said, "We don't know what we're doing remember? The spell didn't work how it was supposed to, we need to figure out how to do it right..."

Marceline tried not to look hurt, "Look, i don't care...I just want to see him again..."

"Marceline, you can stay if you want...but don't push yourself...", she put the book down carefully, "Bubba will be just fine until we figure this out, he can take care of himself, he's back home after all..."

Marceline bit her lip, "Are you sure he's gonna be safe with you? I mean, he could get set on fire, the pages could get wet...he could accidentally end up in the library, lost forever in all your stupid science junk.."

"Marceline...i'm never going to let that happen to him, you have to trust me on this...", she took her hand, "Things take time to happen, and if we're going to bring him back, we need all the time we can get...you just have to wait for him..."

"It's not gonna be the same without him...", she muttered, "He's my roommate...how am i supposed to just...relax and feel alright without him? I won't even know what's happening..."

"I don't know marceline, but you'll just have to wait...", she said, "Please, we're going to do anything we can but it needs time...and i don't want to see you suffer like this...it's already been a rough day for you marceline...just get some rest...i'll give you updates on him...".

She gave her friend a hopeful smile.

Marceline reluctantly gave in, "Fine i guess...my dog probably wants food anyway...and...whatever...". She packed up anything she took and just glanced at all her friends sadly before leaving the lab without another word to any of them.

-

Marceline arrived home, it was only slightly past noon but she still wanted to just go to sleep and just end this day already. Her small dog padded over to great her but she could tell he was also looking for someone else...

"Sorry schwabs...he's not here...", she muttered, "He's...not gonna be here for awhile..."

She petted his soft head and then climbed the ladder up to her room, suddenly not in the mood to float anymore. It had only been a few hours or so and the place felt like it had an entire makeover, was it always this empty before?

Their room was a mess, which was understandable since she did live here, but bubba usually picked up after her like a housemaid. And therefore it ended up mostly clean by this point in time, she even saw his things scattered around the room, things he might not even get back.

And that was when she saw something shiny underneath her coffee table.

His crown.

He forgot to put it on again, typical, living with her kept him from doing things he usually did as a prince back home, therefore he didn't need to wear a crown around their house anymore. Normal people don't wear crowns, especially ones like these.

She picked it up, "Why are you always losing this darn thing bubs...", she mumbled, "I told you this thing was too small for that big head of yours..."

She flopped onto the mattress on her back, staring at the ceiling, stilling holding onto the crown, and speaking to it as if bubba could hear her through it. "I was an idiot...I really should've- we shouldn't have rushed this... we were so eager to get you home..."

She was trying not to cry, trying to stay strong about this whole ordeal, but losses weren't something she tended to take very well.

"I shouldn't have allowed myself to get so stinking attached to you...", she muttered, "I knew from day one that soon you would be gone and out of my life and i might not see you again...and i was just hoping...maybe...that it wouldn't end up like this..."

It wasn't helping that in a normal situation like this, bubba would definitely be comforting her in any way possible.

Then she hissed at the crown, "You had to make me flipping care about you, and like you, and enjoy spending stinking time with you...didn't you? I lose so many great people in my life and you just had to make sure you were one more to my list..."

She wanted to throw it, but she stopped, controlling herself, and instead sat it next to her on the bed.

"I'm sorry I failed...I'm sorry I succeeded...now you're back in your stinking kingdom with all your amazing old friends and...things aren't going to be the same anymore without you...are they?', she hugged her shoulders.

She was laying in her usual side of the bed, the other side felt so empty and sad, he wasn't dead but he might as well have been, his crown laid there as if she was mourning him. She felt hot tears run down her face, "Look at me, the great vampire queen...talking to a stupid crown of a stupid...amazing... prince..."

She felt angry with herself , the world liked watching her suffer? Didn't it?

She laid on her side, brushing her long hair out of her face, she didn't really feel like getting up to eat or even use the bathroom.

She felt empty as she tried to close her eyes and rest a bit, trying to wash off the pain.  
 _ **  
Alone**_

-

When bubba woke up, he was secretly hoping it was all a dream, that he would wake up to find marceline still next to him and they were both perfectly fine. However this wasn't the case as he sat up on the bed, and looked to his clock on the wall to see it was-

"10:00 ?!", he mumbled, usually he'd get up way earlier but living with marceline usually resulted in him staying up longer and sleeping in more.

He'd never slept this long as a prince...ever!

He got up immediately to get dressed, finding it hard to remember his organized clothes system he had in his bedroom, he found a suit and although he did change his pants, he still kept marceline's shirt on and under the suit, refusing to take it off.

Oh boy, butterscotch was going to have his head for sure on this one.

And sure enough, there she was in his study, sitting there with a face that screamed "I'm disappointed in you". Bubba felt like talking back; i mean he was lost, sick and miserable yesterday, why can't he sleep in and feel better? But she didn't look like she was having it.

"Sorry..." He said sheepishly, "I kinda overslept..."

"You... _ **kinda**_ overslept?" She repeated, "Prince you were supposed to get these papers and sheets signed hours ago, a meet with the duchess of the fruit kingdom at 7, and were supposed to have approved of the new construction for the next branch of our kingdom _**20 minutes ago**_...what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry it's just I - I've been gone so long and I've just...changed...", he mumbled, "I completely forgot any of those things..."

"It's not like you to forget...", she said, "Are you feeling well today?"

"No...", he replied, "Look, can you please handle my work for today? I have something more important i need to do...". She looked as if she was about to tell him off but instead he just left the room, closing the door behind him.

He marched immediately to find the lab within the candy castle, unlike bonnie, he didn't spend alot of time in there., but there __ _ **had**_ to be someone who could help him. Marceline came first right now, otherwise he didn't think he'd even be able to ever focus on work again.

Although he couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty about shoving all of the day's work on his servant.

He entered the lab, startling the candy scientists who were working in there, all looking at him as if they'd seen a ghost. He hoped BB or PM told them he was found and safe and sound but by the looks of it, they must've been completely unaware.

"Prince? What are you doing in here?"

"What happened to you last night?"

"It's a long story, but listen...", he said, "I have something important i want you all to take part of, i know it's going to sound really silly and it might not make much sense at first...but if you can help me, it'll be the biggest discovery you could ever accomplish..."

They looked amount themselves and back at the prince, half excited, half worried.

His smile was growing, "Don't feel nervous about this, your prince needs you and i know you guys can do it...". He ushered them to huddle up, "You guys have created many great things for my kingdom, I don't know how we would've gotten off our feet without ya...but this time, it ain't gonna be guardian magic or teleporting technology...no, we have a wall to break..."

"A wall to break sir?", asked one of the candy scientists.

"Yeah, a wall...a wall between worlds..."

-

Marceline's next few days weren't doing her much better, she couldn't recall ever being so...empty in a long time, she just sat around doing nothing but staring at the ceiling and she didn't even feel like grabbing her axe bass to try and cure the boredom.

Bonnie would call every so often with updates and it was clear those were the highlight of the day.

She wasn't expecting bubba to magically come back, but part of her did...secretly... _ **want**_ that to be the case . Bonnie's updates were so boring however, as she did nothing but blabber on about science, when all marceline wanted to know was "Was she close to getting him back?"

Well it was simple, no.

Honestly she wouldn't be surprised if the real reason bonnie was blabbering so much was to partially stall time, and just give marceline something to do besides mope and miss her roommate's company.

She appreciated the effort, but it wasn't really helping at all.

If anything, it made her think about bubba more, considering how much he used to ramble on about baking and tons of nerdy things, at least baking was food-related, that made it at least...a _**little**_ more interesting than science.

The phone rang, and marceline, with little effort, picked it up and answered.

"Talk deadly...", she mumbled, in a very monotone voice. She'd been laying in bed all day, and refused to get up unless her vampire instincts kicked in and she needed some red, schwabl's kisses couldn't even cheer her up and that was saying something.

"Marceline...hey! So, here's what we have so far...", she started, before marceline rudely cut her off.

"Just tell me, is he close to coming back? Or No?", she muttered, she didn't mean to be rude, but science mumbo was the last thing she felt like hearing today.

She could hear the princess grumbled a bit, no doubt rolling her eyes as well, "No marceline, not yet, i was just saying...jess's writing magic is starting to go much better, the book is fine...still going about bubba's day...and I've been looking into magic books...nothing quite like our case but I did find something on a magazine that caused it's pictures to talk to the people reading.."

Marceline groaned from her end, "Yeah...yeah...that's cool..."

Bonnie sighed, "Y'know...he's trying to get back to you too, he's getting help, doing science...it's not like he's forgot about you or anything . He's barely done anything that isn't you-related..."

"I guess we're a match made in heaven then...", marceline muttered, huffing, "Cause I can't bring my self to do anything without him..."

"Marceline, life goes on...you can't stay there and feel sad for the rest of you're life till he gets back...", the princess said, "you've lived most of your life alone, c'mon marceline...you gotta get out of your home and try to have some fun.."

"No bonnie, I just...I need some time to relax ok...", she muttered, "Just...i'm not feeling it.."

"Marceline, i care about you...you can't just let yourself be miserable all day...", she proclaimed, "There has to be something out here that'll cheer you up until we can get him back...?"

"I doubt it...", she grumbled, "Bonnie, having a roommate can be a pain, but at least it always gives you someone to talk to...something to do, it's just different now...I don't even know what to do anymore.."

Bonnie bit her lip, "Well, i'm here if you ever wanna talk to me...you don't have to sit there alone..."

"I know...", she said, "It's ok..."

Bonnie sighed, "Ok, well i promise to call you soon and let you know what's up...and yeah, if you need anything at all...i'm still here marceline...we're still your friends, you don't have to avoid us..."

"I know...it's just, you guys will always be here for me...", she said, "I don't even know if he's ever going to come back..."

Bonnie sighed, "I know...but you can't let this eat you up for the rest of your life...we're worried about you. Finn, jake, me...everyone...you've barely left your cave and it concerns us...just...take care of yourself..ok?"

Marceline sighed, "I'll try...i guess..."

"Promise?", she asked.

"Promise."

Marceline hung up before stand up and stretching herself out, she yawned, brushing her tangled messy hair away from her face. Ugh, she hadn't been brushing it like she promised bubba, _mostly cause she preferred he do it for her_ , but...

After grabbing an apple on the way out and changing into something nicer, she finally left the entrance of her cave, leash in hand with a small eager dog at the end. It was a nice pleasant day outside, a bit chilly but...nice.

She felt her coat pocket and smiled a bit at the crown sitting inside, like she'd ever leave something like that alone.

"We'll see each other again...", she said to no one in particular, "I promise...one way or another..". She kept walking amoungst the trees, letting the cool air touch her face and the breeze sooth her nerves.

"Just promise you'll keep hanging on to me..."

-

Bubba peeled work papers off his face, sleeping on his desk was really becoming a new habit of his and he sure didn't enjoy having his gummy skin attacked to so many objects. He yawned, how long had he been working? A few days?

He checked his calendar, no, it had been almost two weeks since he came home.

He hadn't stopped working, which was unsurprising, with his best scientists at work, he needed to finish his usual princely duties. This lead him to be kinda shut inside and working all the time, not even baking, which was very unusual for him.

His mind wasn't in focus however, so his work wasn't up to his usual perfectionist full potential.

He also, despite changing his suit or princely outfit every day, never took off the shirt he got from marceline. BB would keep scolding him for being oddly gross, but he washed the shirt himself as to keep from losing it.

He wasn't sure about how how effective the servants' approaches to getting to marceline would be, but at this point he was willing to try anything. He lived in a fanfictional story, at this point, he was willing to believe anything.

He got back on track, mind still lost in his thoughts.

Knock Knock

"Come in...", he said, he didn't want to get his hopes up , but a part of him always hoped that it was good news about marceline whenever he heard a knock on his door nowadays. The door opened and a girl and a cat wandered in, closing the door behind them.

"Hey hey gumball!", fionna went right up to him, laughing. "Me and cake totally found this super cool candy cavern and we wanted to know if you wanted to check it out!"

Bubba bit his lip, "I don't know fionna, i'm just really busy...i have more paperwork to do, and i need to make time to check up on my scientists work on bringing marceline back, or well...me to her.."

Fionna moped on his desk, "Oh come on...since you got baaccckkkk...you've done nothing but worrrrkkkkk...". Cake shook her head, "Prince, you gotta stop burying yourself in your work...relax a little.."

"I'm fine...", he said, smiling in a clearly fake way.

Fake enough for cake to see right through it and narrow her eyes.

"You ain't fine bubs...butterscotch told us you haven't entered your own kitchen in forever, there's gotta be something wrong if you ain't cooking anymore...", the cat stretched herself around him, "Live a little..."

"heh heh...yeah prince...", fionna chimed in, "We could do alot of baking and exploring and junk, it could be so much funnnnn!", she gave him her usual puppy-eyes look, begging to spend more time with one of her best friends.

"It probably is, but i just have so much work i need to do fionna...", he said, "prince stuff has to come first sometimes...and this stuff is really important to do, maybe later fionna...sorry..."

She didn't hide her disappointment well.

Cake pawed his face, "Baby you're not yourself, I know you miss her but you can't hide your pain in your work...you've never been this crazy bout working before, you like throwing parties...and baking..."

He didn't answer her, trying to lower his face to his desk even more to hide it from the cat's gaze.

"I-I just want her to come back...", he mumbled under his breath, "That's all I want..."

"I understand baby, but you gotta think about yourself, your kingdom is all worried bout you...staying in this room all day ain't healthy...you need to go out and get some fresh air..it'  
s alot better for you.."

"Says the girls who almost get themselves almost killed every day...", bubba said, trying to make a joke and failing.

Fionna grabbed his arms and stood him up, "C'mon prince...me an cakey are your pals, let's do something fun together..."

He rubbed his eyes, "Well...i guess for maybe a few hours...i could...take a break...", he didn't look very happy about it though, despite wanting to hang out with his friends again for a long time now.

Fionna excitably hugged him, "Thanks prince...c'mon, we're gonna have so much together...and don't worry, if anything goes wrong me and cakey can totally protect you...nothing scares us!"

"Thanks fionna but...actually...do you have a sword i can borrow?", he asked, "I...I want to protect myself a bit for once..."

Fionna saluted him, "Aye aye gumball, i'm gonna go get one right now!", she rushed out of the room as fast as possible, she probably could've just asked cake to help but she was clearly too excited to think about it.

Cake gave him a look, "Since when do you do alot of fighting?"

He shrugged, "You'd be surprised what happens when you end up in a whole new world, i told you me and marceline had gone through some battles and issues with a gang of wizards did i not?"

"Yeah...but...I never thought...wow...", she actually seemed to be rather impressed, " You telling me you disappeared for months and managed to learn how to take care of yourself by fighting? I knew you swordfought, but..."

"Spending time with marceline might've put me on edge...i guess...", he shrugged, "I mean...I wasn't a prince anymore...I had to try and take care of myself and well, I just wanted to keep me and marcy safe i guess.."

She patted his shoulder, "That's really cool prince...i'm proud of you..."

"You think so?", he said, "I mean...I don't like being violent, I just didn't want either of us to get hurt...and since i didn't have guards or you guys there...I just needed to take matters into my own hands..."

"Oh honey, there's nothing wrong with not wanting to be violent...", she said, patting his shoulder, "Some things are better handled your way, and others handled our way, it sin't exactly easy living out here..."

He sighed, "I just wish I knew which way would help me through all this..."

"Things can't always be fixed so easily...", she said, "I mean, fi once got her head stuck in a gelatin monster, and i couldn't just pull her out, so i had to like...use my head to figure out something..."

"And what did you do?", he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I used my head...", she said simply, "It was pretty tasty..."

Bubba hid his slightly disturbed expression and moved on , "Well...I've tried using my head, but I don't know what to do...it's just not that simple, It's not like i can just simply change this reality..."

"Anything's possible...", cake said, "Don't lose faith.."

He smiled at her, "Thanks cake...w-we should go help fionna..."

"Yeah...i think it's gonna take awhile for her to get home on foot...", they both wandered out of the room and into the hallway, bubba closing the door and locking it behind him, he felt better already.

"By the way...you might be able to fight, but don't think we won't have your back if you get into any trouble...", she informed him, "We ain't gonna let anything happen to you, you always have us..."

"Thanks..."

-

"Marceline...can you please hand over the book?", bonnibel asked her friend, who was sitting on the lab table and staring at the magic book. "No..", she said, "I'm keeping an eye on bubba..."

She shook her head, "I know you are but I kinda require the book to bring him back...you can't keep staring at it forever...", marceline reluctantly handed the book over, "He's having a good time...with his friends..."

" that's good, at least he's doing ok...", she said, taking the book over to another desk to look over it, "At least he's happy, we don't need him to end up depressed like that one time ...so that's good..."

The vampire sighed, "Yeah, I guess that's good...but it's hard seeing him go on with life without me..."

"Yeah...but at least you know he's fine, imagine how he must feel...he doesn't know what's happening with you, he can't even be sure that you're alright.", bonnie said, " It has to be so much harder for him.."

"Well, the story only shows how he feels...and what he's doing...so...yeah...", she muttered under her breath, "I can only imagine how all his weird friends are thinking most of the time, the book is so weird..."

"Yeah...", bonnie said, eyebrows raising, "It __ _ **is**_ kinda weird that the book only seems to really revolve around him, i mean, when it comes to his friends, it's not nearly as descriptive about their thoughts and it doesn't show what they are doing..."

She immediately went through her notes, making a huge mess.

"Uh...bonnie?", marceline gave her a look, "What are you doing?"

"Bubba is the center of attention in this story, why didn't i see it before!?" , she shouted, scrbbiling stuff on a fresh new piece of paper, trying to collect all her thoughts and formulate a plan.

Her confused friend wandered behind her, "Yeah...he's the center of the story, he was in the beginning of the story, what's the big deal about it?". She gave her a look, "is there something important about it?"

"The story is writing itself marceline...think about it, this book doesn't have a mind of it's own...someone has to be in control of the story, of time passing in bubba's home, of everything...it's bubba, he's in control of his story right now..."

"Wait...what?", she said, "What is that supposed to mean!?"

"It means he's no longer just a character anymore, he's so real that his home is what he makes it to be, he's not being written down to make his choices...he's really making his own, his life and story is being written down in response to him..", she explained, or rather, tried to.

"So...?"

"SO- that's why we can't interfere with the story!", she said, "It's all coming from him!"

"But how does that help us?", she asked, "Even if he's in control of everything right now, how is he still going to get back to us? It's not like he can write in the book and change reality or something, the book won't let us touch it..."

"Yes marcy, which is why he has to figure out how to get back to us himself, we can't control the book...he needs to control it himself, create his way over here...if he's writing the story, he can write his way back here...", pb stated.

"That makes no sense bon...", marceline said.

"Bubba has to take over the story enough to bring himself back...", she said simply, "If he controls the story and the book, he can write himself back to us...re-write the story"

"But how?", the vampire looked at the book very strangely, "He doesn't know that , to him he's just living back home...c'mon, did you even read the book? That isn't gonna work if he doesn't get it..."

"Then he's going to have to figure it out himself, or we're gonna need a way to tell him...", she said, "But if i'm right, we have a chance...sure, a small chance, but it's the best we've got..."

Marceline took ahold of the book, "Well...only if you think it's gonna help bon, i mean...trust me, i think you're being completely crazy...but if you're sure that this has any way of working...then...let's take it.."

She grinned, "Then we have a certain magic user to call.."

-

"So...is someone like...writing everything i do right now?", the curious human asked the prince, she moved her arms funny, "Are they writing me to do this? Or say everything i'm saying right now? "

He scratched the back of his head, "Yeah...I think...it's hard to think about it really..."

"Who's writing in the story now though? I mean like...it's super weird..", fionna then asked, "They are like...telling us what to say and do...are they like, glob or something? Cause they sound like glob..."

"Well, in a way...I guess they kinda _**are**_ glob...", he replied, "I mean, simon created our world, all of us...I guess that does kinda make him glob to us...although...he's kinda crazy, so that does make me wonder..."

"Wonder bout what prince?", asked the cake trodding next to him.

"About how we came out so...normal, I don't know...it's hard to describe...", he aimed his flashlight ahead of him, the caverns were rather dark, and he was having a hard time seeing anything, causing him to trip a bit.

"Who do you think is writing the story now...?", she asked, keeping a close eye on her sister, making sure she didn't go too far ahead without either of them. Fionna was much to excited to have her friends adventure with her that she wasn't paying too much attention to her surroundings.

"I'd hope it was marceline...", he mumbled, "But why would she write me to feel so sad...why not bring me home?"

"I don't know prince, who knows what's going on from her end?", she said, "I mean, anything could be happening...if this whole "Fanfic" thing is as real as you say it is...then who even knows anymore..."

He took time to think for himself a bit as fionna stumbled and fell down, cake catching her.

"Girl you gotta stay with the group, we have no idea what's in here...this ol' place could be filled with slimy goo monsters, or dangerous crazy traps, or sticky stuff that'll get in your pretty hair..."

She started to tickle her sister, who playfully pushed her away.

"CAKE! i'm NOT A BABy AnyMORE!", she said, laughing hard.

"You'll always be a baby to me!". she said, laughing back.

Bubba smiled at them, getting warm memories of the boy and his dog, he caught up them quickly. The floor of the cavern was getting creepily sticky up ahead, no wonder fi fell, it must've stuck to her shoes.

"What is all this stuff anyway?", fionna asked, trying to look around but only truly seeing where the flashlight shinned.

Bubba knelt down, "Looks like taffy...at least i hope that's what it is, seems sugary..."

"Think we can eat it?", fionna asked eagerly, "Me and cakey skipped breakfast..."

"I don't really recommend eating anything you find in here...", he shined his light along the walls, which seemed to be coated with a similar substance. "I've never seen a cave like this...how'd you two find this place..?", he raised an eyebrow, not used to not knowing of a candy cave.

"Oh...me and marshall were hanging out and he said he found this super cool cave with like...treasure, but it was full of monsters and biz so he thought we should do it instead...guess he found it by smelling it..", fi explained, expressing her excitement through hand movements.

Bubba had sudden memories of marceline smelling him and his blood, "Yeah...vampire smell..."

He reached behind him to check if the sword strapped to him was still there, it was, good.

If _**Marshall lee**_ recommended this cave, this wasn't going to end well.

-

"So yeah...that's what we think happened with the spell..", the princess explained towards their magic friend, who was looking over the book in question. She really couldn't help but wonder how this spell flopped around so much.

"Well...that's definitely...probably what happened...", she said, "That's...I-I'm not exactly what to do to help this or anything...". She bit her lip, "The book won't let me write in it, remember?"

"No...however...you CAN write in his others...", bonnie winked, taking out a book from behind her, "We aren't asking you to do anything crazy, we just want you to add something to one of the older stories..."

"Why?"

"Because it's like going back in time, and we need to make sure bubba gets this in the future, so we don't affect his story's timeline, you've been practicing, and we have faith that you can do this for us..", she said, handing her the other book.

She took it, "But are you sure? What if i screw something up?"

"You won't screw this up...", she said, being as supportive as possible, "You've gotten so much better at this, and if you pull this off, you'll be such a big hero to us, c'mon...please help us..you can do it.."

"You're forgetting the most important part Bonnie..", marceline said, finally speaking from the corner of the room, "If this plan works, we'll get bubba back..."

Jess looked at the book in front of her and drawled a pencil, "Ok...I'll do it, b-but just...just don't interrupt me...I need to think about this so i don't screw up anything else going on in this book..."

"Take all the time you need...", the princess said, marceline now floating to her side.

She gave them a look, "So...what do you want me to to add exactly?"

-

Bubba typically didn't like going on many adventures, or at least, he used to.

He couldn't get past fighting monsters, or running for his life, or all the time-wasting puzzles and running around. All the craziness might've worked for fionna and cake, but for him, it was extremely nerve-racking and terrifying, not to mention he was a prince and if anything bad happened to him...

So as they went deeper into the cave, he kept close to his friends, he might have alot more fighting experience now, but they were still the professionals.

The deeper part of the cave was just as dark and as horrifying as it was when they first noticed the taffy among them, if not more. Bubba was worried the flashlight might run out of power if they were here much longer.

When they finally reached what seemed to be a fork in the cave, the group looked amongst themselves.

"Right or left...?", fionna asked, mostly to gumball, probably assuming his brilliance would be able to deduct which route would be best.

"Uhhhh...", he looked between them, if marceline was here she would totally just rush into the first one she saw, smell for scents of possible enemies, and make herself intimidating enough to scare them away.

He looked between both tunnels, shining his light in both, but he couldn't see anything up ahead for either of them. There was no telling which way would be better, and with rumors of monsters being in here, he'd rather they went the best direction that guaranteed them safety.

He couldn't tell which was better though, he'd have to guess and therefore he had a one out of two chance of taking the best path.

But then he suddenly started looking at the left one, having the strangest urge to enter, as if it was calling out to him. He stepped in front of it, shining his light into it and taking a brave step forward.

Fionna and cake, seeing him finally make a choice, followed after him. Bubba didn't really know why he kept going, but he wasn't stopping either, following the tunnel in front of him to see what's at the end.

Fionna and cake stayed close, both a little worried someone was going to pop up to attack them in the dark.

"So...what kind of monsters do you think live in a place like this fi?", cake asked, tail frizzing up in worry.

"Probably some candy monsters, totally gross and slimy...bet they totally hate veggies...", she said, "We can totally take them, and then when we do, we all can go out for pancakes...i'm hungry..."

Bubba kept going and then squinted his eyes, "I think i see a light up ahead...c'mon, I think it's good..."

They went into a sprint, and reached the end of the tunnel into a small room, bubba found the source of the light and picked it up. He made a strange face and felt some chills down his spine.

It must've looked super weird, because fionna and cake looked very concerned.

"Prince? Everything ok?"

Bubba calmed himself down, before showing them what he was holding, and was making him so nervous.

It was a letter, with his name on it.

"Whoa...", fionna said, "That's super weird...how could there, why would there...? Like...how did anyone know you'd even be in here? Must be some sorta weird magic and stuff...creepy..."

"I wanted to go down this tunnel, I felt like I had to and...I found this, for me?!", He started, "I-I don't understand, how could there be a letter for me way deep in a cave i never knew existed?"

"Well, open it...see who it's from..", fionna shrugged, "Maybe it's a prank from marsh or something..."

Bubba bit his lip, if Marshall told fi about this cave, then yeah...this was possibly just another one of his silly pranks, he calmed himself down before hesitantly opening the letter addressed to him.

But before he could read it, he felt something grab his leg.

"G-guys...y-you can let me go...", he said, shaking in place.

"What are you talking about? We aren't holding onto you...", said fionna, who was indeed, too far away to be holding onto him, and cake's limbs all seemed to be close to her body, so it wasn't her.

He felt a chill down his spine as he tried to move his leg, to shake it off.

Fionna and cake immediately noticed the problem and went into action, but then they felt something grab their legs too, it was sticky and gross and overall just pleasant, despite the sugary smell..

"The taffy is attacking us?!" fionna cried out, swinging her sword at it to cut herself loose.

Gumball drawled his own sword, the letter provided a glow, so he turned the flashlight off and put it away so he could properly take down this goopy mess. But it was sticky and it didn't help that he was made of gum, so he had a much harder time removing himself from it.

Cake got her fur unstuck, and pulled them out, "C'mon...we getting out of this weird cave before the candy eats us!", she placed them on her now large back, and tried to go back the way they came, doing her best to see in the dark with the light the letter provided.

The walls, floors, and ceiling taffy reached out to them, like hands.

"FASTER!", fionna cried, swinging her sword at the hands, bubba alongside her.

Cake held on as he walls tried to collapse on them, she saw the exit up ahead, the entrance was trying to close itself.

"Hold on now babies!", she said, "We ain't stopping here!

She picked her friends up and on instinct to make sure they made it though, clutching them in her paws, she threw them outside just before the cave closed up, trapping her inside of it.

Bubba and fionna felt sore as they hit the ground, rubbing their aching bodies before fionna ran to the sealed entrance, "CAKE!", she cried out, swinging her sword at the entrance as if she could break it.

"Don't worry cake, i'll save you!", she cried, hitting the entrance as hard as possible, despite it now being solid.

Bubba sat up, aching all over, he grabbed his sword, and then saw the mysterious letter lying next to him.

He snatched it, to eager to read what he risked his life for.

He opened it, and began to read.

"CAKEEEEEE!", fionna was freaking out, getting more and more tired with every swing, tears coming to her eyes. She wasn't making an impact on the wall, not at all, not even a dent was visible.

She fell onto her knees.

"I-I Shouldn't have let us go to this stupid cave...", she sobbed, "I'm an idiot..."

She sobbed for a bit, sword falling out of her hand , and bunny ears drooping. She should have known this would be a bad idea, nothing Marshall suggested ever truly was, and now her sister was trapped inside a cave forever.

But then it happened.

The doors started to open, peeling apart and opening the cave, and fionna rushed to the scene as a large tired cat fell on the ground face forward, shrinking back to normal size and looking in rough shape. Fionna hugged her, "Cake, glob i was worried sick..."

"Wh-what happened?", she mumbled, "I thought i was trapped in there..."

"I-I don't know bu-",she started, before she saw bubba.

Bubba had been looking at the cave, and he still was, the cave closed back up again, as if by magic...

As if _**he**_ performed magic.

"P-prince?", cake said in awe, ignoring her bruises.

"It's __ _ **my**_ story...", he said quietly, "I'm writing this, all of this...this story and how it ends is in my control...". He held up the letter, "They wrote that this letter would find it's way to me, but this story was supposed to be about me and now...it's mine to control..."

"Prince what are you-?"

They looked amoungst each other as they saw themselves heal up in an instant, as if they had never been under attack. He smiled gently, "This story was meant to be about me, i'm the main character, but i'm under no one's control anymore...just my own, I can end this story happy...like I've always wanted..."

He looked up into the sky, as if marceline could see him, but he knew she could read him.

"I can't believe it, the only thing holding me back from going to Ooo...was me...",he said, "I was just...I lost faith in getting back and...it held me back...". He kicked the dirt beneath him, and he wrote in his mind to have it stay in mid air.

"I could do anything, get anything, write the story to end in anyway i want, repair lost relationships...conquer kingdoms, everything is up to me...", he said softly, "I no longer have to be alone...or get married, or suffer..."

He bit his lip though, "But...I think...there's something i'd much rather have come true..."

The world suddenly began to dissolve around them, words written in the fanfiction pages appearing and tearing, fionna and cake were now freaking out, huddling together.

The world was coming apart in pieces, all dissolving into the air, never to return.

"Prince?! what is happening?!", fionna screamed, "What is-?!"

Then everything went black.

-

Bubba felt someone touching his hair, he pushed them away, trying to fight back and continue sleeping.

"Five more minutes...", he muttered, "I'm not in the mood o work today..."

Then he heard a familiar laugh.

"Why do i always end up finding you unconscious and on the dirty ground..?!" came a voice that snapped his eyes open.

He looked right into the eyes of a girl with long dark hair, her brilliant red eyes looked as if they were about to cry.

He pulled her onto him, clinging onto her as if he had not seen her in years.

It felt like years.

"You did it...", marceline said, "I-I can't freaking believe you did it!?"

"Shut up...", he muttered, before immediately pulling her in for a kiss, crying tears of joy all over her.

She finally managed to separate herself from him, "Bubba, the book completely dissolved itself ...and it...it...you broke the barrier...you...you used your only magic...to bring your world to me..."

He looked around them, he was lying on the grass, sure, but he was more focused on the rather large gash in midair, an opening, to Ooo.

"I-I really did it?!", he said, "Are you sure i'm not dead?!"

"You could've just stayed there you know...", she said, " You could've written to have a perfect life...like...you know you no longer are gonna be able to write your life now that you broke the barrier right?"

"Yeah...", he said, "But honestly, everything i need is here...with you"

"You're an idiot...", she said, half crying as she pulled him in for another kiss.

"You're both idiots honestly...", came a voice, which was when they noticed bonnibel helping a currently terrified cake and human girl to their knees, who were looking at her as if she were a ghost, "You guys really did some seriously crazy magic you know..."

"But it worked...", marceline said, " It freaking worked..."

"I hope jess knows just how powerful her magic really is, cause now we have a linking universe to our own...and a tear between them...", she stated, ignoring the two adventuresses who were looking between her and their prince.

"P-prince...w-wha?", fionna said, unsure what to say or even do at the current moment.

"Fionna...cake...", he started, "Meet...my _**girlfriend**_.."

-

"Be careful with that!", marceline hissed, rushing over to the banana guards carrying a few of her guitars and amps as they tried to go trough the castle entrance. She quickly saved her precious band junk from falling onto the ground, and put it back in their arms," This stuff is mad expensive, Don't let it break..."

She then felt someone playfully grab her from behind, making her jump.

"Well, if it breaks, i'm sure i can make sure you get replacements...", the pink prince teased, "You have an awful lot of stuff for a girl who lives alone, you gotta go through some of this old junk..."

She grinned, "Sorry bubs, my stuff stays, fraid you're gonna have to deal with it..."

He crossed his arms, " It's hard to move you in...you mind helping us out?"

She crossed her own arms, mimicking him, "Princey needs assistance? Awwww, but c'mon, it's a big day for me, i don't wanna... _ **work**_..."

"Sorry love, but if you're really gonna move in with _**me**_ , you have to chip in...", he grabbed her hand gently, "C'mon, we already have all our friends helping, we should join them...they're probably wondering where we went..."

She winked to him, "Oh bubs, i'm sure they have a few ideas already in mind..."

He turned bright red before tugging her alongside him, ignoring her comment, "C'mon, i especially don't trust marshall alone with any of your stuff, glob knows how many times he reads my diary, he could be reading your journal right now..."

That seemed to wipe the smirk off her face.

She was dragging __ _ **him**_ now, making sure they found Marshall before her did any snooping.

They found him outside of bubba's room, most of marceline's stuff was being transferred to her own room, but as far as clothes and certain stuff went, they were going to be right next to bubba's; where she wanted to sleep.

Even the couch was being moved in, right into marceline's new room, not that they would be using it anytime soon.

Marshall was digging through some boxes of marceline's stuff, but at the sight of seeing her and his best friend, he immediately retracted and tried to look as if he'd been organizing the boxes instead.

"Oh hey guys!", he said cheekily, when he first met marceline, he might of thought he was going slightly crazy. For starters, bubba was telling the truth, and not only was he telling the truth, he actually was in fact, in a _**relationship**_.

Yeah, every time marceline appeared in the same room now, he had to blink a few times just to make sure this was reality.

"Marshall lee, what were you doing?", PG gave him a look, and marceline snatched her box away from him, growling in his face.

"Don't touch my junk...", she hissed.

"What? i'm curious!", he held his hands out defensively, "Bubs said i was based off you and i wanted to see just how much-"

"Don't. . stuff...", she said again, "I'll have you know I've taken out some powerful vampires...i'm sure you don't wanna end up like the others...".

Bubba laughed awkwardly, "Trust me Marshall, when she thought i touched her stuff, she kicked me out of her home...you probably don't wanna tempt her to do anything worse...ok?"

Marceline gave him a light punch, "I'm still really sorry about that y'know...?"

"I know..."

Marshall looked between the two of them, "I'd tell you two to get a room, but you already are..."

Marceline stuck her tongue out, being playful, "Har har...stop snooping through my stuff, we have to unpack all this junk and separate it, the stuff that goes to my private room, and the stuff being moved into bub's...i'll need some help"

She dimmed her eyes,"And considering you being a snoop, i think i'll have to give that privilege to fionna or something...you weirdo.."

Marshall poked both bubba and marceline before heading off in another direction, "Pffft fine, i'll have plenty of time to snoop with you two together anyway, oh and you guys are still coming over for the party this weekend right?"

"Of course!", bubba said, "Marceline needs to properly meet you guys, well, personally meet you...instead of just simply reading about you..."

"I'm still inviting simon...", marceline said, "You aren't gonna convince me otherwise, you guys wouldn't even exist without him..."

"Yeah yeah i know, but i'm still trying to process the whole "Fictional character" thing, so meeting my apparent creator is a little...weird...", he said simply, "Anyway, i gotta run and...i'll see you lovebirds later..."

He floated his way out of the room awkwardly, leaving them alone.

"That reminds me, did all your friends agree to the party? I want to make sure everyone can make it...", bubba asked, taking the box from marceline and putting it back with he others.

"Yeah, don't worry...they're all coming, can you blame them? It's kinda gonna be a cool event...having our friends meet like this, just a casual outing between people from two different worlds, nothing special...", she joked.

"And jess?"

"She's gonna be late, in fact, i think her and the group of wizards are actually gonna be busy repairing the damage done to wizard city...but she's not gonna miss it for the world, don't worry...", she said, putting an arm around his shoulder.

"Good...", he concluded, as a small white dog trotted his way towards him, he delightfully picked him up, patting his soft head. "Hey schwabs...you can come too if you want, the more the merrier..."

After putting him down, the dog excitably went off to explore his new home more, leaving the royals laughing.

"That's my boy...", marceline said, "I'm sure he'll like having a big house to run around in..."

They entered bubba's room, it hadn't gone through many changes with marceline's presence , but she had her own dresser and kept a few personal things around that she couldn't bear to part with .

She had a feeling her personal room might have some of bubba's things in it too soon.

She flopped face first onto his bed, it was so much softer than hers, ugh and it smelled sickeningly sweet.

Even bonnie's didn't smell this good and she had a feeling it was because half the time her sweet smell was covered by the hard, strong smell of whatever experiment she had been doing earlier that day.

Bubba sat on the bed next to her, looking at his phone.

"Bonnie is saying they picked up the last of it, your old house is empty marceline...", He sighed, "I'm actually really gonna miss that place...so many great memories...what about you?"

"It won't be the last we see of it bubs...", she said, looking up at him, "I'm sure someday we'll go back...you know...the private life, just the two of us...". She put a hand on his shoulder, "That house still belongs to me..."

He smiled a bit, "Yeah, i'd like to have that someday..."

He received another text from bubblegum, " Bonnie is really digging being, you know,... _ **the first**_ to discover a new universe...", he chuckled a bit, "As long as she doesn't plan to dissect us...i'm fine.."

"I'm fine with giving her Marshall...", she said with a grin, "Someone's gotta pick on her while i'm living here..."

"Oh, i'm sure he'd relish that idea, he's already used all the tricks he can on me, maybe he needs someone new to try them on...", he mimicked her grin, "Just as long as you both don't plan on ganging up on me..."

"No promises bubs...", she winked, "I suggest you sleep with one eye open tonight..."

He laid back on the bed next to her, "You know...it''s never too late to move out...if you aren't ready...", it was clear he was joking but he certainly didn't want to force her to stay if she was uncomfortable.

"Bubba...I agreed for a reason...", she said, "I love being your roommate, and your friend...hanging out with you is way cooler than living in a cave all by myself back home, heck...what's so bad about dating a prince and living in a castle?!"

"Well, it's just...a whole new experience, and i don't know for sure how much time we'll have together because of my work and...", he started to ramble, "I don't want to be a bad friend or boyfriend to you cause this is all new an-"

Marceline had to yank on his collar, pulling him in for a kiss in order to calm him down.

"Hey...we'll work this out, we've been through so much worse...", she told him calmly, "Sure it's a whole new experience for both of us...but what's wrong with a little adventure in our lives? Who knows what's in store next for us ?"

He smiled in return.

"I suppose when it happens, we'll take them down?"

She took his hand, squeezing it a little, "Yeah, just make sure I don't go over the top..."

"As long as you keep giving me courage to fight back...", he squeezed in return.

"Well then, ready for our next adventure?", she said, "Cause I don't know bout your mortal ears, but I hear a couple of humans planning a duel to see who's really the greatest adventurer right below us..."

Bubba immediately got up, "Oh no, not in the library! I just had that repaired from when flame prince visited to learn new English...", marceline stood up after him, holding onto his arm.

"Wait, before you go...", she said, pulling a shiny object out of her jacket and placing it on the prince's head, "I think you should take this back...it'll make you look more important...".

He stuck his tongue out, adjusting his crown," Thank you, my queen..."

The two royals left, running down the hall to make it to the library before another epic battle ensued.

Holding hands the entire time.

 **Thank you guys so much for reading!**

 **The story may be over but i'll make sure to write some short stories when i'm up to it, for gumceline, and other ships. :)**


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